Pokemon Baccer World Cup
by MewBladeXxX
Summary: It's been several years since the Zoroark incident in Crown City, and the yearly Pokemon Baccer World Cup has rolled around once more! Out of 8 teams aspiring to become the Baccer Master, who will be the one to win it all?
1. Chapter 1

**Mew: So... I was reading the manga verison of Zoroark: The Master of Illusions recently when I saw the Pokemon Baccer World Cup in the first few pages. They never elaborated on that, and it intruiged me... so here I am, doing a Pokemon Baccer tournament. I'm accepting OC teams; the registration sheet is down there, but please read the story. :) Enjoy and review when you get to the cute little blue button with the speech bubble! :D**

**Pokémon Baccer**

* * *

**Chyna's POV**

"Man," I murmured softly, gently brushing Riolu's head fur with a brush. "Man," I repeated. "The tournament we've all been waiting for Riolu. It's tomorrow. Actually tomorrow." Riolu nodded eagerly, not having yet mastered telepathic speaking yet.

"Rio!" he cried happily. He bounced away happily, jumping onto a chair. From there, he leapt onto my neatly made bed, creasing the sheets as he jumped away.

_'Now Riolu,' _a soft, seemingly feminine voice reprimanded Riolu. _'Don't mess up Chyna's bed. She just made it ten minutes ago. Off you jump now.' _

Riolu made a cute pouting face but complied readily. I turned to my Lucario. "Thanks Luca," I said, using my unofficial nickname for her. She nodded calmly, gracefully standing up.

_'I think I shall check on Meta, shall I not?'_ She looked outside, where Meta, my Metagross, was practicing in my homemade Baccer field. It bounced four Baccer balls around with its four limbs easily.

"Go ahead Luca," I said absentmindedly. Riolu had somehow snatched the brush from my hand and was currently running wild around my bedroom. "Riolu!" I snapped. "Stop that right now!"

_'Riolu...' _Lucario warned before heading out the door. My Riolu sighed, flopping down onto the floor. It growled softly when I took my brush back.

"Now, now, Rio," I clucked softly. Riolu pouted again as I swept him into my lap. He sat obediently as I worked on his head fur again. "We can't have you looking scruffy for tomorrow can we?"

Riolu shook his head as Lucario entered my room again. _'Meta wants to have one last practice battle,' _she said. I nodded.

"Practice makes perfect after all." I said. Riolu jumped off my lap as I stood, brushing light brown bangs out of my eyes. We walked outside, my bipedal Pokémon and I. Metagross was waiting patiently outside, floating in the air as it juggled several normal balls.

"So Meta, two against one again?" I asked it as I walked over to the Baccer ball goal, reaching in to pull out a moderately heavy ball. Metagross nodded and made a small sound. "I take that as yes."

Lucario and Riolu walked over to one side of the spray painted grass, Lucario right behind the line while Riolu stood a ways behind her. Metagross floated to levitate above the other side of the line. I stood in the middle, the Baccer ball held high above my head.

"Alright you two," I said. "You know the rules. Fair play, no rough fighting and absolutely do not use your moves. Okay... play!" I threw the Baccer ball up high and retreated quickly.

Luca instantly lunged into action, jumping high to grab the ball. It snatched the egg shaped ball out of the air, flipping and landing neatly on its feet as it ran for the opposite goal. Metagross quickly floated after it, neatly cutting in front of Luca. Luca growled impatiently as she feinted towards the left but quickly changed her course to the right. Of course, with Meta having four limbs, the ball was taken easily.

"Come on Luca!" I shouted. "You're usually sharper than that! Get your head in the game!"

_'I know, I know!' _she snapped impatiently, instantly running after Metagross, her black paws sending grass flying. _'Rio!'_ she shouted mentally.

"'Lou!" Riolu called back. He ran, quickly overtaking Luca. I had trained the little dude for speed, and it was paying off. Being so small, Riolu slipped under Meta's floating body easily. He popped up under its front claws, snagging the Baccer ball with ease.

Meta made a strange noise, one I associated with frustration. It swiped the at Rio, but by then, my small blue Pokémon had thrown the ball at Luca. Luca grabbed it like a football, ran a few paces, jumped, and threw the ball with all her might. It flew through the air, above Meta's grasping claws, and into the goal.

"Safe!" I yelled, walking over to retrieve the ball from the goal. When I looked back, the ball safely under my arm, Riolu was happily perched on top of Metagross. Lucario leaned against the silver and green Pokémon; for once, it had all four claws on the ground, instead of floating like it usually did. I smiled.

"Great job guys!" I cheered. "Tomorrow we'll wake up nice and early, hm? Check out the competition!" I grinned.

'_That's fine with me Chyna,' _commented Lucario. She sniffed, looking away contentedly. _'Actually, this Crown City is really nice, despite what has been rumored to happen here.' _

"Riolu!" agreed Rio, while Metagross made a sound like a cross between a purr and a hum. I chuckled.

"Let me put this Baccer ball away, then we can walk around, see the sights. How's that flow with you?" I said over my shoulder, tossing the ball in the air. I caught it with ease, mock dunking it into the mesh netting that was my ball holder.

'_Sounds great Chy__na. Let's go then... Riolu! Stop that this instant!' _Lucario snarled, reaching up to pick up Riolu by the scruff. He had begun to jump excitedly on Meta's head, although I don't think the Steel Pokémon minded much. It just cast a reproachful look at Riolu.

'_Respect Meta Riolu,' _Luca scolded severely. _'Metagross is your elder, you much treat your elders with respect, you hear me?' _Luca backed her reprimand with growls accenting the verbal punishment. Riolu's ear appendages drooped sadly.

"Now, now, Rio," I chided, picking up the young Pokémon. I sat him on my shoulder, moving around with some difficulty due to the added weight. "That wasn't the right thing to do, now was it? Say sorry to Meta, okay?"

Riolu supposedly nodded, as it chirped an apology to Metagross. Meta smiled as only Meta could, and picked me up gently with one of its clawed hands. It set me on top of its head, indicating that it would serve as my transportation for the day. Actually, Meta usually served as my transportation. Meta never minded, as it liked the knowledge of knowing that I was in a place where Meta could defend me easily if need be.

We toured most of Crown City the rest of the afternoon, receiving some strange looks on the way. Even though people walking around with Pokémon wasn't uncommon, it wasn't every day you saw a girl about 16 years old, with long, light brown hair wearing a much-too-baggy t-shirt and faded jeans sitting on top of her Metagross, holding a Riolu, while a Lucario walked calmly by their side. Nope. A sight like that was pretty rare.

When dusk began to fall, had a small race with Luca back to our apartment. Meta held onto me with its two front claws, while I held Riolu. In that fashion, it floated full speed towards our apartment. Lucario bounded, leaping from tree to tree. She called that training. I thought it was just an excuse to test out the 'flimsy trees' that served more as decorative plants rather than trees.

Lucario helped prepare dinner, wielding the sharp spikes on the back of her paws as an effective knife. After eating, Meta retired outside. The cold didn't bother it none, and it preferred to have the unfamiliar apartment under its constant supervision. Lucario went into one of the other bedrooms with Riolu, although I don't think they went to sleep immediately. The sound of running water confirmed my suspicion. Riolu was getting a shower.

I showered as well, setting aside some of my nicer clothes for tomorrow. As I was about to hit the hay, Riolu dashed into my room, jumping into my bed before me. He burrowed under the blankets, instantly falling asleep. I sighed.

'_I'm sorry Chyna. The small rascal escaped my grasp.'_

I looked over at Lucario, who was standing in the doorframe, the door cracked open a fraction. "It's alright," I said in reply. "I suppose Riolu will have to stay with me for the night. Good night, Luca." I slipped under the blanket, reaching over Riolu to turn off the bedside lamp. The quiet creak of the door informed me that Lucario had left us to our rest.

I sighed again, closing my eyes as the darkness slowly leeched away at my consciousness. My last thought before I was lost to the shadows was:

'_I am going to wipe the floor with the competition tomorrow.' _

And then I was gone.

* * *

**Rules for Pokémon Baccer:**

**Only three Pokémon allowed.**

**One of the three Pokémon must not be evolved.**

**There can be no legendries whatsoever.**

**Your Pokémon must be able to handle a Baccer Ball, be it with its fore paws, talons, or hands. **

**There can be no move using. Aka, Metagross cannot use Psychic to move the ball.**

**To clear up any confusion, Metagross usually moves around by floating. If you have, say a Pidgeot, it may fly around, but it cannot fly too high. Ball must always be in reach of other land bound Pokémon's grasp unless it had just been thrown.**

**Pokémon do not have to be evolutions of the other Pokémon on your team. Do not restrict yourself to a team of, say, Pichu, Pikachu, and Raichu merely because you think they have to be chain evolutions. **

**You must make 5 goals on the opponents goal before you win. **

**YOU MUST PLAY FAIR.**

**My own personal rules:**

**When you enter an OC team, please put the word BACCER at the beginning, or top, or your entry. That will inform me that you have at least read the rules, and perhaps the story. If you do not have the word Baccer, I shall not consider your entry, no matter how good it is. **

**There can be only one entry per person. **

**I will only take entries from people with accounts. I love you anonymous people, but I have to have contact with you. I'm sorry for the inconvenience I may have caused you. If you are anonymous yet claim you have an account, I shall delve deeper into that, and if what you say about your account is true, I shall accept your entry in that manner. **

**The winner shall be fairly chosen. It most likely will not be me. Whatever entries I get I will put in a box of sorts, draw out of that, and I shall chose who goes up against whom in that fashion. That is the fashion in how I will chose the winner as well. **

**No flames, please.**

**I need at least 7 entries. **

**Oh yeah, one last thing before my time runs out. ENTRIES MUST BE PM'ED TO PREVENT THIS STORY FROM BEING REPORTED AND TAKEN DOWN! You may only review your entry if you cannot get into your account for some reason. I believe FanFiction is acting up currently as well. **

**OC Registration Sheet:**

**Name: (First and Last, Middle if you so wish.)**

**Gender: (This is rather obvious. Arceus save you if I must explain this further.)**

**Age: (Nobody under 14 please. The maximum age is 22 if you mind.)**

**Personality: (Give me a detailed description, please. No one liners saying, 'Oh, he's cool' or 'Oh, she's super smart'. No Mary Sue's or Gary Stu's please.)**

**Appearance: (Both casual as in every day, and formal if you don't mind.)**

**Physical Appearance: (Hair, eyes, skin color, height, you know what I mean.)**

**History: (Your childhood, how you learned of Pokémon Baccer, or just an important event. Must be at least 4 sentences.) **

**Team Name: (For your team of three.)**

**Pokémon: (Again, this is obvious. They can be from any region.)**

**Other: (Anything else I may have missed or you wish to add.) **

**Have fun! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Mew: I'm back! And... I need one more OC team! Just one more! Here are the ones I currently have! From squirrelthe13th, we have Mica Lancaster! From OwenG2107, we have Owen Edwards! From Honeyman, we have Roy Grant! From Chi-Chiwawa, we have Izzy Waters! From Illusion Fox, we have Odessa Marie Polinski! And from my bestie and current co-host, we have Baliee Lesliee made by Molly! **

**Molly: ^^**

**Mew: And on with the plot! Remember, I need one more OC team! **

**Pokémon Baccer World Cup**

**Chapter 1**

**Chyna's POV**

I yawned, stretching luxuriously. As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I happened to glance over at my alarm clock. It was a decent time, about 8:00 in the morning. A small subtle movement at my side notified me that Riolu was also awake. My small blue Pokémon imitated my yawn.

"Hey Rio," I said softly, slipping out of my bed. I shivered when the cold air hit my bare skin. The floor was just as cold as the air; perhaps colder. I jumped from foot to foot as I made my way over to the hall bathroom. There, I quickly brushed my hair and washed my face. I had the habit of brushing my teeth after I ate breakfast, so I headed back over to my room for the time being.

I looked around for the clothes I had set aside the night before. They were on my dresser. I padded over there softly. I inspected the shirt, frowned, and then switched it out for another, similar looking one.

My outfit consisted of a v-cut navy blue t-shirt, with a white cami undershirt to prevent any cleavage from showing. Tan short shorts, black fingerless gloves with the Baccer symbol, and my usual white bandanna tied around my right upper arm completed the outfit.

Riolu had run out of the room when I was in the bathroom, either going to find, pester, or otherwise greet Luca.

I walked out of my room, pulling my hair into a messy bun. Several wispy strands still cupped my face, giving me a serene, but still slightly tom boyish look from the hair sticking out from behind my head. My friends had all called it the 'Chyna look'. It was an old joke.

I slipped on some white knee length socks, padding downstairs quickly. Lucario and Riolu were already in the kitchen. Even after living with them for years on end, I still hadn't figured out what they ate in the morning. I occasionally found the piece of missing toast or fruit, so I supposed that's what they ate... but I might never find out. I was under the suspicion Metagross never did eat.

I prepared my own breakfast, cereal and milk. I ate with quick neat bites as Lucario and Riolu headed outside where Metagross was once again practicing with the Baccer balls. It juggled them in almost a comical fashion, but it was really a practice I devised for Metagross to improve its coordination.

As I washed my bowl and spoon, I saw Luca, Rio, and Meta from the living room window. They were throwing the ball back and forth quickly. Once it touched either claw or paw, it was quickly thrown on to the next Pokémon in line. Since there were only three of them, I figured they did about 14 rounds or so before I got outside.

"Hey guys!" I called cheerfully, slipping on some black boots that came up to my knee. They had the shine and gloss of leather, but I didn't think it was real leather. I was much too cheap for that kind of luxury.

'_Good morning Chyna,' _Luca greeted gracefully. She caught the ball when it came to her and tossed it into the basket with a _swoosh._ She dusted off her black paws and looked at me expectedly. _'__Well?' _She asked. _'__Are we leaving now?'_

I nodded. "Yup, got that right! Meta, mind giving me a lift?"

Metagross made a sound I associated with a pleased or happy mood and floated over to me. It picked me up like it had yesterday, placing me on the flat of its head. Riolu hopped into my lap. "Okay Meta," I said, patting its greenish blue head. "You know where the Baccer Stadium is, don't you? We passed it yesterday."

Metagross made a confirming noise and floated off quickly with all haste. It had all four of its legs tucked back for maximum speed. Or should I say maximum speed for when I was on it. Which wasn't terribly fast, but it was quick enough to get us to the stadium within ten minutes. That was a pretty good record, considering that the stadium was several miles away from my apartment.

I hopped off Meta, patting its foreleg. "Thanks for the lift," I said warmly. It closed its eyes contentedly, then floated after me as I walked. Luca followed several feet behind us, and Rio remained on Meta's head.

Inside the lobby of the stadium, there was the registration desk. I walked up to the person manning it; a young woman looking to be in her mid-twenties. She smiled up at me. "Are you participating in the Pokémon Baccer World Cup today?" she asked politely.

I spared a smile of my own. "I am indeed. I believe I am registered under the team name Team Lumeri? "

She riffled through her papers. "Team Lumeri?" she asked. I nodded confirmation. "Trainer name Chyna Zevvy, age 16, Pokémon participating are a Lucario, Riolu, and Metagross, correct?" She looked up at me.

I motioned to my Pokémon behind me. "Got that right."

She nodded and smiled again. "Well the Cup starts at 10:00, and I think there's some trainers back there already. Have fun and good luck."

I grinned. "Thanks! Come on Luca, Rio, Meta!" I went through the automatic doors that led to who knows where?

I found that it led to a room resembling a waiting room. There were several chairs, and several trainers as well.

I counted five people in the room besides myself. There were 3 girls, 2 boys. Two of them looked up when I entered, a boy with spiky black hair that had to be gelled, fair skin, and deep blue eyes, along with a girl with light mocha colored skin, with frazzled, curled, white hair. I wondered if it was dyed.

"Hey," the male said, raising two fingers. It was a common greeting around Crown City. I returned the greeting.

"Nice Pokémon," I said in reply, nodding to the Shiftry, Dewott, and Machamp that stood in a semi-circle with their trainer in the middle.

"Thanks," he said calmly. "Hey, my name is Owen Edwards. What's your name?"

I paused before I spoke. "My name is Chyna Zevvy. Nice to meet you, Owen."

Owen spared a slight smile before turning back to his Pokémon. I looked around and noticed the girl from before sneaking subtle glances at me. I ignored her, spotted an empty seat. I headed towards it, but was intercepted by the mocha skinned girl.

"Hi!" she chirped brightly. "I'm Izzy Waters! Your Pokémon look so healthy! They look really cool!"

I backed up pace, overwhelmed by her cheery persona. "Thank you... I think," I said slowly. "Nice to meet you Izzy... is that a Riolu I see?" I asked, seeing the trademark blue of the Riolu and Lucario kind.

"Yeah! Riolu, come here please!" She called over her shoulder. The Riolu strode up confidently, looking up at Izzy.

"Rio?" the little blue Pokémon asked. I could tell by her tone that the Riolu was a female. Instinctively, I reached down and picked her up. Behind me, Rio made a noise of protest.

"Don't be jealous Rio," I sighed. I looked at Izzy's Riolu for a bit before I handed her back to her trainer. "Your Riolu looks strong," I complimented. "Perhaps we could have a battle one day. I have a Riolu of my own; you might have noticed." I scooped Rio up into my arms. Lucario came up from behind and put a paw on my shoulder while Metagross floated steadfastly by my side.

'_Hello little one,'_ Luca said to the other Riolu. Her ear appendages perked up as the Riolu heard Luca's telepathic voice. _'__Does your trainer treat you well?'_

"Luca!" I exclaimed, aghast. "Manners! That's no way to treat a friend!" I turned to Izzy. "I'm terribly sorry about Luca's attitude right now. She just wants to know about how other trainers treat her kind. Please forgive her."

Izzy laughed. "No problem!" she said brightly. "I know what you mean. Glaceon does it all the time with other Eevees."

Upon hearing their names, Glaceon and Poochyena came obediently. Glaceon padded over quickly and gracefully, casting a questioning glance at Izzy. Poochyena romped behind, a slightly moony look in its eyes.

"Oh, there you are!" Izzy said happily, reaching down to stroke Glaceon's head and scratch Poochyena behind the ears. "Well, I've got to go prepare now! Perhaps we can meet again in the finals! Bye now!" She waved and walked off, a spring in her step. I stared.

"... That was strange..." I muttered. "And Luca? Don't do that again, please."

Lucario looked at me. _'__... Fine,'_ she relented, the Lucario equivalent of a scowl on her muzzle. _'__I'm sorry Chyna.' _

I ruffled her head, something I hadn't done since she was a young Riolu. She looked startled as I chuckled quietly. "Let's go sit down," I suggested.

We wandered over to the vacant chair, and I sat down, pulling Riolu onto my lap. I pulled out a small comb I had stowed away in my pocket before I had left home. I gently untangled Riolu's head fur, so absorbed in the task that I didn't notice when another trainer entered through the automatic doors slid open.

"Hey Chyna, long time no see, eh?"

I looked up, startled. My chocolate brown orbs met hazel green ones. A girl looking to be about 17 smiled down at me, her gaze intelligent and confident. When she spoke, her tone was assertive and cheerful all at the same time.

"What, cat got your tongue?" Behind her, a Hydreigon fluttered his wings gently. A male Unfezant stood with his feet spread, his feathers brandished his feathers proudly. A female Snivy perched precariously on her shoulder, careful not to snarl herself in her trainer's dirty blonde hair. A startled word forced itself out of my mouth.

"Bailee!"

* * *

**Mew: And the plot thickens! ... If I really had a solid plot. This more of a drabble... that I was forced to make when I saw that Pokemon Baccer thingy... yeah. **

**Molly: So you're going nowhere with this?**

**Mew: Not really. I have a small plot... really nothing. But I hope you enjoy! Please review! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Mew: The update is here... yay...**

**Molly: ... She's brain dead right now. Stayed up late doing this for you... so I'm doing the intro right now. If things sound a bit strange, blame the late night. She tried her best, and if anything is not to your satisfaction, tell us! We want your opinions! Good or bad. **

**Mew: Huh? Oh, yeah... well, there's some new OC's! We've got Larch Grayson from 3rdbase101, Noah Drake belongs to the Tamer of the Zero Unit, Hope Tranquil is Hopelessly Awaiting's... and I think that's all. NO MORE OC'S NEEDED! I've gone over my limit with 10 OC's already. I meant to have 8, but the two extra were way too awesome to resist! So, we've got a plot twist thrown in one of the later chapters. But for now... I don't own Pokemon Baccer nor the OC's that aren't mine, and enjoy! **

**Molly: ... You were awake?**

**Pokémon Baccer World Cup**

**Chapter 2**

"Bailee!"

I stood up hastily, my long light brown swinging gently in the messy bun I had quickly fixed it up in. Bailee was a bit taller than the last time I had seen her, which was several years ago, so that was acceptable. Her pale skin was unflawed, as usual. She never did seem to burn, even though her skin was as white as it could be and I had never seen her put on sunscreen before. She claimed that she loathed the stuff, although I had doubts of that.

"What are you doing here?" I asked in surprise, gently setting Riolu on my shoulder. He looked at Bailee curiously, as did Lucario and Metagross. "Oh, that's right," I said. "You've never seen Bailee before. I got you after we parted ways!"

Lucario looked at Bailee evenly. _'Hello mistress,' _she said politely. Bailee raised an eyebrow as she heard Lucario's musical telepathic voice in her head. But if I knew Bailee well, she was about to ask about something else.

"Mistress?" Bailee proclaimed, crossing her arms. "I'm not some old codger!" she cried indignantly, tossing her long hair. I sighed and gently face faulted. Bailee was as melodramatic as ever. I should have known.

"It wasn't meant to be an insult Bailee." I said patiently. "Luca addresses everyone older than me like that."

"Oh." Bailee tossed her hair once more and smiled. "Well thanks then! Oh, is that a Metagross I see?"

I grinned. "Yeah! I caught Meta when it was still a Metang. You were a toughie, weren't you Meta?" Meta bobbed its head as much as possible, making its special Meta smile. "So, you never answered my question," I said, turning back to Bailee. "What are you doing here?"

Bailee laughed. "To participate in the Pokémon Baccer World Cup silly! I gathered Team Windbreaker especially for this event! Anyhow, they're my most powerful on team Pokémon as well."

"Cool!" I chirped. "Maybe we'll go up against each other!"

Bailee grinned. "Maybe!" she replied, then held out a fist. "Like old times?"

"Like old times," I smirked, giving her a fist bump. We chatted for a little while more, then Bailee walked away to tend to her Pokémon. I turned to Lucario. "Your turn," I said deviously.

_'Oh no,' _Luca said, backing away. _'You are not combing my hair like I am a young Riolu.' _Luca said stubbornly. I lunged forward and grabbed her, gently running the comb through the short fur on her neck.

"Yes I am," I shot back. "And I'm doing it now."

Luca struggled briefly, but when I made the fact that I wasn't going to let go clear, she sighed and gave up. _'... Just this once,' _she sighed reluctantly. I smiled.

"Love you too Luca."

_Half an hour later~~~_

By now, I knew most of the people pretty well. There was Mica Lancaster, a girl about 2 years younger than me. She was very quiet most of the time. She was the last person I had approached, as she had not caught my attention before. Although her clothes were a big too baggy and tattered, her appearance was rather pretty. Her hair was a midnight black color, just reaching past her shoulders. Her large chocolate eyes would have been identical to mine if there were no hazel flecks in it. Her skin was a dark cinnamon color, and she was much shorter than me, giving the appearance of a angel floated to earth.

Noah Drake was another guy, who rushed in a little while ago, thinking he was late. He was another one of the quiet ones, although I caught him scoping out my Pokémon. He looked friendly enough, so I struck up a conversation.

"Nice team you've got there," I said cheerfully, motioning to him Typholsion, Aron, and Zebstrika. He nodded.

"Thanks," he said in a deep voice. "I've had them since I was young. Except for Zebstrika here. He recently evolved from a Blitzle. I got him from a traveler hailing from the Unova region. He showed me Pokémon Baccer, and so I made getting to the World Cup my goal. And here I am now." He chuckled.

"Cool. I've been in the Baccer business for a while now. This is the first time I've been the World Cup though. My team and I have been training for a long time now. Hey, I meant to ask, what's your team name?"

He shook his head. "You'll find out later. But on the subject of names, what's yours?"

I grinned. "I'm Chyna Zevvy, hailing from the region we're in now. Good ole Sinnoh." I sighed.

"I'm Noah Drake. I grew up in the land of ORRE - you've probably never heard of it. It's a tough place." Noah ran a fingerless gloved hand through his short spikey black hair.

"Interesting. Well, I'm off now." I grinned again. Noah blinked at me, raising an eyebrow as he returned with a smirk. I noticed for the first time that his eyes were a brilliant gold color. I headed off to find another person to talk to.

There was Roy Grant, the oblivious bug user. He was a pretty cheerful guy, and I took a liking to him instantly. His bug Pokémon were in pristine shape, ready and raring to go. He was my age, and much taller. His hair was black, like Mica, and it was slicked back with a bit of gel. Most people knew his father to be one of the most famous Baccer Ball athletes ever. Most people did not know that his father abused drugs and later died from it.

"And so I gave up on being a rich spoiled brat and decided to live the life my father devoted his life to." Roy explained to me. I nodded, listening to him as he gave me the short version of his childhood. Afterwards, he smiled cheerfully and probably forgot about me as he turned back to his bug Pokémon. I laughed, an amused look on my face and turned away to find someone else new.

Looking around, there was only this other girl with dark brown hair and bangs. She was surrounded with flying types, Emolga, Drifblim, and Altaria.

"Hey!" I said cheerfully, flicking some stray hair out of my eyes as I approached her. The girl wore a frilly light pink top with a lacy, white cardigan. She had on a matching lacy white skirt that came to knee height. There was a light pink dahlia in her hair and she had on white sandals. She turned when I called out again.

"Hey random person!" she all but yelled, attracting all the attention in the room. "You've met the awesome me, Odessa Marie Polinski! Have you seen my Pokémon? Aren't they adorable? Star's - or should I say Altaria's for you - feathers are just so fluffy! Hey, is that a Riolu? I bet my Emolga, Mina could beat it easily!"

I backed off slightly, narrowing my chocolate brown eyes dangerously. I really had a dislike for people bombarding me with comments and such... especially ones that contained my Riolu. "Hey," I growled. "Don't underestimate my Pokémon!"

She imitated my motion. "Oh, you wanna fight?" she said right back. "My Pokémon would cream yours."

I opened my mouth to retort when something clamped onto my arms. I looked over my shoulder... and nearly fainted. Bailee's Hydreigon was right behind me, like literally. Its two heads that were also its hands had bit down on my arms, preventing me from moving, as it was a very strong Pokémon. I struggled anyway.

"Let go of me!" I cried, jerking forward and backward in a desperate attempt to break free. No dice. When Hydreigon had a grip, it had a grip. Bailee approached me cautiously.

"Careful Chyna," she warned. "We're going outside. Come on." I sputtered and protested, and in the end, her Hydreigon had to drag me out, much to the interest of the other trainers. Luca, Rio, and Meta followed us out worriedly.

_'Chyna...' _Luca muttered in a concerned tone when Hydreigon had safely dragged me outside. _'Odessa might have been annoying, but she's young, give her a chance. I'm sure Riolu could beat her Emolga easily. She's just... confident.' _

I snorted. "Overconfident more like," I grumbled, but calmed down. After a moment, Hydreigon released me cautiously. I noticed that he always stayed close, as did Meta. "Oh, I'm fine," I said slightly snappily. Meta and Hydreigon retreated and I felt guilty for making them feel bad. "Sorry guys."

"Hey, they're about to start. How about we go back in?" Bailee suggested. I checked my phone - sure enough, it was 9:55. Just about time. We headed back into the lobby to find two trainers arguing with the registration receptionist.

"Hey, I'm sure there's space for two more trainers!" an angry exclaimed. It was feminine in tone. "Why won't you let us in the tournament?"

I looked over with interest. There was a teenage girl and an adult over at the receptionist's desk. She looked rather flustered with the angry girl, so I decided to intervene.

"Hey," I said amicably. "There's no need to yell. What's the matter?"

The adult turned to face me, calmly pushing his glasses up. "I'm afraid that there are no spaces left in the Baccer World Cup," he said, calmly and quietly I might add. Nothing like the angry teen beside him.

"That's right!" she yelled. "I demand to be let in!"

At that moment, Mica, Izzy, Roy, and Owen came out of the waiting room, instantly honing in on the fuss the girl was putting up.

"Hey, what's going on?" Owen asked, walking up to me. I shrugged.

Hope gasped, grabbing Owen's hand. "OMG, you are so cute!" she squealed. I merely stared as Owen squirmed out of her grasp.

"Let go of me." he stated calmly, easily jerking his hand away from hers. "You are?"

"Hope!" she supplied. "I'm Hope Tranquil!"

"I'm sorry, but there are really no spaces left," the receptionist said awkwardly. "And we must start the tournament now..."

Izzy broke in. "Take my place." she offered sullenly. "I can enter next year anyhow..."

Hope gasped. "Really? Awesome! Thanks..."

"It's Izzy. Izzy Waters. Come on Glaceon, Poochyena, Riolu. Let's go." She turned to leave.

"Hey, don't go!" I cried, looking at her. "At least stay and watch!" I turned to the adult. "Even though you're not in the tournament, you could watch to! It would be fun!"

He nodded. "I suppose... I could use the data. Oh yes, my name is Larch Grayson. You are?"

"I'm Chyna Zevvy! That's my best friend, Bailee Lesliee over there, Noah Drake's the guy with gold eyes, um, there Roy Grant over there, he has the Ninjask, Mica... Mica Lancaster's over... ah ha! She's hiding behind her Ninetails. Don't be shy Mica! Odessa's the one with the flower, and... where the Arceus did Owen go?" I looked around briefly until I had spotted the 18 year old. I walked over to him and grabbed his wrist firmly.

"And here's Owen!" I could feel Owen stiffen in my grasp and carefully take his hand away. I laughed.

Larch looked at us. "From what I have derived, you Chyna, along with Bailee, Roy, Owen, Noah, Mica, Hope, and Odessa are participating? The best of luck to you all."

"Thanks!" We all chimed, although some were less enthusiastic than the others. A thought seemed to strike us at the same time and we all looked at each other.

"Say," Owen said. "Who's participating in the first round?"

The receptionist cleared her throat, attracting our attention. "I believe... Bailee Lesliee and Noah Drake are competing in the first round."

Bailee's head snapped over to where Noah was standing with his Pokémon. He looked at her as well, a calculating look in his eyes, taking in her Hydreigon, Unfezant, and Snivy. Likewise, I could see Bailee's hazel green eyes grow cold, narrowing in preparation for the upcoming battle. She looked over his Typholsion, Aron, and Zebstrika. Noah's Typholsion fired up his neck flames and snarled menacingly. Hydreigon roared back, as Snivy glared and Unfezant stared proudly. Zebstrika stamped, sparking with electricity as Aron merely turned its head to the side, confused. Noah picked up the little iron Pokémon and stroked his head reassuringly.

"Well," Noah said. "I hope you can put up good fight. I'm always up for a challenge."

Bailee laughed. "I hope you're in for the fight of a lifetime!" She glared regally.

I shivered. Bailee was scary when she was focused and determined like this. As they had a stare down, a speaker somewhere crackled to life.

"Pokémon Baccer fans! I hope you're ready for the tournament! Because here come our players!"

As I had my Pokémon out and was closest to the door leading to the stadium, I went out first. The people who hadn't released their Pokémon, mainly consisting of Mica, did so and followed.

The sun glared brightly and I shielded my eyes. Cheers rose from all sides and a rush of the thrilling pre battle feeling filled me. I grinned, waving. Lucario and Metagross stood beside me as Riolu managed to balance on the top of my head. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Noah flanking me on the left with his Pokémon surrounding him, and Bailee on the right, with her Pokémon surrounding her. I assumed that the others were doing so as well, but didn't bother to spare a glance backwards.

"Hello competitors!" Came the announcer. "And these are our World Cup competitors today, young and fresh!" I tuned him out until I heard my name called for a briefing of my team.

"And first up we have Chyna Zevvy, a fresh 16 year old from our home region, Sinnoh!" I strode forward proudly as the crowd screamed and cheered. There was usually a love for the home players. "Team Lumeri consists of Luca, a Lucario, Meta, a Metagross, and Rio, a beloved Riolu!"

Upon hearing his name Rio cried out happily, his voice magnified by the microphones in the stadium. An amused laugh rippled through the crowd.

I continued onto the seats reserved for specially for the tournament players. I was a bit surprised to see Larch and Izzy in the seats above the reserved ones. Izzy smiled at me while Larch just looked. I waved and sat back as everyone else was introduced.

"Noah Drake, 18 years of age, with Team Blazing Skulls! His Typholsion looks tough! That Zebstrika and Aron don't look like pushovers either! I think whomever goes up against him has something to worry about!"

"Hope Tranquil, a girl of 15, with Team Royale! Pachirisu and Buneary may look cute, but that Dragonair sure looks regal! This girl looks like she can pack a lot of punch too!"

"Here comes 18 year old Owen Edwards, with Leonardo's Stars, whom are not to be messed with! That's one powerful looking team there! Even though that Oshawott, Samuel is small, it's one stubborn Pokémon! Don't forget about Owen's Shiftry, Thomas, and Machamp, Leroy either!"

"Mica Lancaster, age 14! With Team Granted consisting of Ninetails, Eevee, and Dragonair, you might not want to count this cutie out yet!"

"Whoa, who let the bugs out! Haha, it's Roy Grant, age 16! Those Bug Bashers are pretty fast! You can hardly that Heracross when it flies, let alone Ninjask! And that Dwebble looks immovable!"

"Odessa Marie Polinski with the Starstruck team! With Pokémon that have participated in Musicals, it can't be terribly different from Baccer! Those Pokémon sure look graceful! Enter Mina the Emolga, Violo the Drifblim, and Star the Altaria!"

"Last but not least, Bailee Lesliee! With Team Windbreaker on the loose, you'd better watch out for her Hydreigon! Don't mess with her Unfezant either, or you'll get whipped by Snivy!"

As all the introductions were made, everyone made their way to the reserved seats. I found myself with Mica on my right and Owen on my left. Owen watched as the announcer called Bailee and Noah for the first battle. They wasted no time in getting to the trainer stands, the goal beneath the stands and their Pokémon ready to go on the field. A ref was in the field with the ball and a whistle. Both trainers looked as tense as their Pokémon, eager to get the advantage along with the ball. The seconds ticked by excruciatingly until...

"Let the Baccer World Cup start!"

The ref threw the ball high and retreated. Typholsion leaped for it the same second Hydreigon took to the air...

* * *

**Mew: Yep. A cliffy cause I'm evil like that... *yawns* And tired... bleh.**

**Molly: Go to sleep then. **

**Mew: Good idea. *Snores***

**Molly: Tut. I told her not to stay up... she insisted for you readers though :) Well, review, please! Have a good... night I suppose... wait no, very early morning. See ya for the next chapter anyhow! Ciao! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Mew: Look! Another update! ... Yeah, I'm still slightly sleep deprived. :) But I'm good!**

**Molly: ... You zoned out on the bus you idiot. :P**

**Mew: Meh. I woke up, didn't I? **

**Molly: Whatever. Anyhow, we don't own Pokemon Baccer, just our personal rules! And the OC's belong to their personal owner! All we own is Bailee and Chyna. **

**Mew: Enjoy! **

**Pokemon Baccer World Cup**

**Chapter 3**

**Bailee's POV**

My heart pounds as Hydreigon lunges into the air. Every time we've trained, I've drilled the importance of getting the ball first into him. Snivy raced to Noah's side of the field, ready to catch the ball once Hydreigon gets it. Unfezant hung back a bit, just in case Hydreigon doesn't get the ball.

Thankfully, he did. Hydreigon swooped low over the field - a restricting rule I had much trouble with at first. Two thirds of my teams are flying types, and in battle, we rely on a hit-and-fly strategy. Flying low to the ground nearly killed my Hydreigon and Unfezant. Not literally, but you know what I mean.

Hydreigon was halfway to Noah's goal when Typhlosion hit the ground. Zebstrika galloped as fast as possible, but it's clear she - she clearly was feminine - wasn't going to catch up in time. Close to Noah's goal was my Snivy. She glanced at Hydreigon and leaped up high. Hydreigon threw the ball with deadly accuracy, aiming for Snivy. I knew in a moment, she would turn, take the ball's impact with her tail, and then use the ensuing momentum to send the ball flying into the goal. An easy goal for us.

What I didn't count on was the blur of silver darting in between the egg shaped ball and my Pokémon. There was a loud clang as the Baccer ball hit Noah's Aron, neatly knocking the small Pokémon out of the air. Surprisingly, it landed on its feet, then looked around in surprise and confusion.

"Great job Aron!" Noah called encouragingly. "Zebstrika, go!"

While Snivy, Hydreigon, and I were wondering how on Arceus an Aron could be so fast, Zebstrika raced in and snapped the outer rim of the Baccer ball in her teeth. She tossed it up gently, balanced it on her nose expertly, and dashed off for our goal. I gasped in surprise and Zebstrika covered the field with eye blurring speed. She alternated in between bouncing the ball on her nose and letting it drop to the ground and kicking it back up with her front hooves. I knew a wild Zebstrika would never be able to do that, and I knew Noah had done some special training with her.

"Unfezant, get the ball!" I screamed, leaning over the guard rail of the stand. Unfezant uttered a loud cry and spread his wings, in an attempt to intimidate the opponent. It didn't work and Unfezant took to the air gracefully. He winged his way towards Zebstrika in a zigzag pattern, confusing her. I could see it in the way she slowed down slightly and looked for an opening.

I didn't noticed Typholsion creeping up behind Unfezant, and by the time I had, it was too late.

"Oh no!" I cried out. "Unfezant, behind you!"

Unfezant turned, which was a mistake. The instant he twisted his head around, Zebstrika threw the ball up and reared up, striking it with her front hooves. It landed in the goal solidly, and a loud air horn blew, signaling a goal for Noah. I sighed in disappointment as Snivy and Hydreigon returned to our side of the field. I decided to play it up a bit.

"A loss!" I cried out melodramatically, throwing a hand to my forehead. My Pokémon caught on immediately. It was a well-rehearsed act. Snivy wailed out as Unfezant cried out. Hydreigon glared at us in a reprimanding way. "Yeah?" I asked, breaking off the girly act.

Hydreigon roared again, using its hand heads as well. I smiled and winked to the crowd, spinning around in a circle daintily and stopping to face Noah with a heart stopping stare. Unfezant spread his wings, shrieking a battle cry. Snivy glared as well. "We're not going down easily!" I yelled. "Come on guys! Let's get it together! Noah, you're going DOWN!"

**Chyna's POV**

I groaned, burying my hands in my face in embarrassment. Owen looked at me strangely. "What's up?" he asked in confusion.

I sighed, looking up. "Bailee always does that... thing when the opponent gets the first goal on her. I thought she stopped that after we parted ways... guess not." Owen looked at me strangely, then turned away to look at the field.

"Technically speaking, your friend Bailee has the advantage. She has power in Hydreigon and Unfezant, and speed in Snivy. From what I have seen, Noah focuses on the speedy tactic. Most trainers do. Power doesn't have much to do with Pokémon Baccer. But it seems that Bailee specializes in both. She is a good trainer indeed." Owen shrugged out of his black leather jacket as he spoke, revealing an equally black t-shirt with a Pokeball on it. It looked like something a kid would wear and I looked at the 18 year old dubiously.

"What?" he said somewhat defensively. "It's my favorite shirt." I grinned sheepishly.

"Although Bailee has the advantage," I said, "I don't think you should count Noah out yet. His Typhlosion seems pretty strong to me, and he caught Bailee off guard with that fast Aron of his. Hardly anyone can catch Bailee of guard. Noah did well for someone who just met her. If he was at a lower level than he is at now, he wouldn't have lasted for more than five minutes. I'm telling the truth. Most Pokémon freeze up at the daunting task of facing a Hydreigon, the 3 headed Brutal Pokémon. Noah's Pokémon actually seem to be more... in it, you get me?"

Owen nodded. "I see. You have good observation. Of course, you have known Bailee for longer." He stopped talking and focused on the battle. Noah had managed to make a another trick shot while we were talking, and the score was now 2-0. I watched in eager anticipation. Things seemed to be heating up.

**Noah's POV**

I smiled in somewhat of a grim way when Typhlosion had snatched the ball, twisted around the defending Snivy, and made an all netter. "Great job Typhlosion!" I called.

"Phlooooo!" Typhlosion cried, throwing back his head in triumph. Zebstrika reared up, a sure sign that she was happy. Aron looked confused as usual. He was a bit too young to actually understand what the competition was about, but after much training, I finally got the little guy to block the ball whenever it came too close to our goal. We were still working on how to smack the ball back, and not get decimated by it. Thankfully, his iron hard shell was more than enough to prevent any damage from happening.

"Hey! Noah!" I eyed Bailee across the field. She had a devious smile on her face, more than enough to put me on guard. A short, sharp whistle signaled my Pokémon to make a tactical retreat. For now, Typhlosion would be handling the offense. He stayed about midfield while Zebstrika trotted back, neighing and tossing her head. She snuffled Aron to make sure he was alright from his latest Baccer ball bashing.

"You asked?" I called back warily. Her Snivy had control of the ball currently, and that Hydreigon was guarding her.

"I just wanted to tell you that we're done holding back. Hydreigon, execute plan A, formation 1, if you please."

I paused as Bailee sharply rapped out commands I had no plan to counter. What was plan A, formation 1? I guess I would find out in a minute. I tensed up as Hydreigon made the first move.

All three of her Pokémon came at us at once. Typhlosion raced out to defend, while Zebstrika and Aron stayed at the goal. All of a sudden, Hydreigon lashed out, roaring loudly. Not expecting it, Typhlosion froze for a moment. It was all that damned Snivy needed.

The little green Unova starter darted around Typhlosion with all the speed of my Aron. It faked a throw at the goal. "Don't fall for it!" I shouted, but it was already too late. Zebstrika had leapt out to where she thought the ball was going to land. She was wrong.

Unfezant intercepted the ball skillfully, backing wings quickly as it snagged the ball up in his talons. Typhlosion had recovered by that time, and lunged at Unfezant. Unfezant whirled around quickly, a move that might have looked beautiful at a contest or musical. On the Baccer field, it looked deadly beautiful.

Unfezant twirled and threw the ball like a person throwing the hammer at the Olympics. It flew at Hydreigon, who used the momentum from the flying ball to turn a full rotation and sling the egg shaped ball like a rocket into the goal. Aron intercepted before I could say anything, and before another second passed, my youngest Pokémon was slammed into the goal along with the ball.

"ARON!" I screamed, losing my usual cool in trade for desperation. "ARON!" Inside the goal, my Pokémon began to wail in confusion and possibly pain. "Typhlosion!" I snapped at my oldest Pokémon. He understood immediately. Typhlosion hopped over to the goal, gently plucking Aron out. He stopped crying quickly, looking at Typhlosion.

"Aron!" I cried. "Are you alright?" Aron looked at me, confusion in its eyes. Not a dent nor scratch was imprinted in his armor. I sighed in relief. Aron was fine. That guy was indestructible in my opinion. Getting hit by a Baccer ball solid as a small hunk of metal was _not_ something you bounced back from immediately. Apparently Aron thought so. At least he didn't try to eat the ball. I had lost many practice Baccer balls in that way.

"Alright!" I yelled. "Retaliate! Zebstrika, take the field! Typhlosion, follow up behind!" The referee fished out the ball from the goal and walked up to mid field again. Unfezant strutted up to face off against Zebstrika. The two proud Pokémon glared at each other.

The ref threw in the ball quickly and retreated. Zebstrika reared up immediately, bouncing the ball up to get some extra height. It worked to some extent, but as Zebstrika wheeled to kick it towards Typhlosion, Unfezant grabbed it skillfully, evasively dodging Zebstrika's attempts to snatch it back. Unfezant dodged Typhlosion and Aron with equal skill, tossing the ball in with competent ease. I groaned. The score was 2-2 now. Perhaps I was biting too much off at a time. Chyna had mentioned to me that Bailee had been doing Baccer for quite a while now. I had just started a few months ago. But that didn't mean I was going down easy.

We went back and forth for another five minutes, in which Bailee scored another 2 goals on me. I had come close to scoring a goal, but Snivy had blocked it at the last second, sending it flying to Hydreigon. That was where the ball was now. And Hydreigon was closing on our goal fast. I decided to go all out. It was now or never.

"Zebstrika! Aron! Last Resort plan! C'mon, you guys know what to do!" Zebstrika looked up at me, surprised. Aron merely waddled quickly over to Zebstrika and looked at her. I nodded the go ahead.

Typhlosion quickly began to run interference with Hydreigon – interference mainly being lunging at him and snatching at the ball. Hydreigon was effectively slowed down and had to keep switching the ball around with his two heads.

Aron made a funny jumping motion. I knew it wasn't easy for the poor guy, but we had practiced together enough to get Aron to up a few inches in the air. It was enough for Zebstrika to scoop it up with its muzzle, fling Aron into the air, and whirl around on its front hooves and strike Aron with its back hooves. Aron went flying through the air like a miniature silver rocket, straight at Hydreigon. The impact from the kick knocked Zebstrika onto its knees, and I knew it took a few minutes for her to recover. That's why this Last Resort move was so risky.

Typhlosion ducked when he heard Aron whistling through the air. Aron hit flew at Hydreigon like a bullet. Reflectively, Hydreigon swung a hand at it. The hand holding the Baccer ball.

Aron collided with the metal coated ball with a loud clang. He fell back, stunned. Luckily, the Baccer ball was knocked out of the Bailee's Hydreigon's hand, and Typhlosion snatched it up instantly.

Hydreigon whirled around, roaring loudly. He let out an angry battle cry. Unfezant flew at Typhlosion, shrieking angrily. Snivy hissed, jumping up and grabbing the ball from my Typhlosion's startled paws. The goal was an easy one. The defeat was not.

I stood there as the air horn sounded. I sighed quietly, walking down to the field to check on my Pokémon and congratulate Bailee.

Bailee had beat me down, as I had dawdled a bit. Zebstrika had struggled up with Typhlosion's and Snivy's help, and I gave Bailee a small, grateful glance. I stroked Zebstrika's flank, gently picking up Aron and setting him on her back. "Thanks, and congrats," I said cheerfully. "Guess I bit off a bit too much at a time, eh? Good luck in your next round Lesliee. You'd better win!" I grinned.

Bailee looked at me. "You were a good competitor. I haven't had to use plan A, formation 1 since I battled Chyna." She motioned to the girl up in the stands. "Keep up your training and you'll be a powerful opponent." She smiled. "Thanks for the great fight!" Bailee recalled her Pokémon except for her Snivy and dashed up the to the stands.

I stood in the field alone, stroking Typhlosion and Zebstrika. Slowly, I could hear cheers shouting my name.

_Noah, Noah, Noah!_

I looked around, at all the people, at Chyna in the stands, grinning and waving, at Owen beside her, nodded as he met my gaze. Izzy laughing and cheering. Mica shyly meeting my gaze then looking away. I exited the arena, content. My Pokémon followed me. I could tell by their manner that they were nervous.

"Great job," I said softly. "I'm very proud of you. Come on, let's go get you checked out. What was I thinking, pulling Last Resort. I'm sorry, Aron."

Aron nuzzled me as Zebstrika and Typhlosion head butted me. I laughed. "I'm good, I'm good! You guys did great! There's always next year too!" I scratched Typhlosion behind the ear as I headed off to find Nurse Joy.

* * *

**Mew: Like? I think it dragged on a bit, didn't it? The battle was a bit hard to write. I'm not a very big fan of soccer in the reality... but I tried. **

**Molly: Neither of us are. We're not very big sport fans. :) Teehee! **

**Mew: So please review! Yea! And have a good night's sleep! :) G'night! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Mew: I'm back! Computer can't beat me! What now! Hah!**

**Molly: *Sighs***

**Mew: Anyhow, before my computer rebels, here's chapter 4! Sorry if there's any mistakes, it's roughly 10:50 pm over here, connection is slow, and my computer hates me. :P Yeah.**

**Molly: ... Well, disclaimer. We obviously don't own Pokemon, and not the OC's, only our own. **

**Mew: ... That was some weird wording. **

**Molly: Shut up. Enjoy folks. **

**Pokémon Baccer World Cup**

**Chapter 4**

**Chyna's POV**

Noah walked out of the area with his Pokémon, looking slightly disappointed. I felt a shred of pity for the guy; Bailee did cream him after all. His last move was really brilliant in my opinion – who would have thought he would have used Aron as a missile to distract Hydreigon? Sure, it was unsuccessful, but a newbie catching Bailee off guard was rare. Noah was sure full of surprises.

Bailee herself came hopping up the stairs, taking two at a time in her joy. "What!" she shouted, attracting the attention of everyone in ear range. I sighed. Yup, that was Bailee.

"Yeah, you won, now sit down," I sighed, intently watching the big screen to my left. It was showing Bailee as the winner and Noah as the loser. The announcer came up a few moments later.

"Well, well, well, that was an exciting match! Noah suffered a defeat at the hands of Bailee! He put up a valiant fight though! Give a round of applause to the guy!"

The crowd clapped with more enthusiasm than what I deemed as respect. Noah was a strong trainer after all. I whistled as my own respect.

Bailee plopped down in an empty seat behind me. "Whew, Noah was a strong guy. I thought I was done for a moment there!" She laughed.

"He was rather good for someone who's new to the concept of Pokémon Baccer." I mused. "Perhaps he could get better training under you." I looked at Bailee and she shrugged.

"Maybe." She said. "I'd have to present the idea to him. It's certainly worth considering. Hey, they're announcing the next battle!"

I jerked my head back to the screen. On the screen were the pictures of Hope Tranquil and Roy Grant, with the versus symbol between them.

"And our next battle is between Roy and Hope! Which of the two aspiring trainers will win? We'll see. Roy, Hope, come on down!" Somewhere down the row of seats, past Larch, they stood, glanced at each other, and carefully picked their way down the aisle and stairs, heading for the arena.

Hope took her place at the left side, Roy at the right. Hope had a determined, somewhat angry expression on her face. Roy looked pretty calm, but still had his trademark oblivious look on his face. Samurai, his Ninjask, Hercules, his Heracross, and Earthy, his Dwebble, were lined up around his goal. Hope's Pokémon, a Pachirisu, Buneary, and Dragonair, were closer to the center of the field.

The Bug Bashers and Team Royale stared each other down. Samurai fluttered his wings speedily, staring with those black eyes of its kind. Hercules looked strong and healthy, rather big for a Heracross, but that was alright. Earthy was similar to Aron. It was small in stature, but it had a very determined look. He clicked his pincers menacingly.

Pachirisu twitched its tail cutely, winking at Roy's Pokémon. Buneary twirled around, waving its ears. Dragonair curled around them with its serpent like body in a somewhat of a protective manner.

Roy tensed as the referee held the Baccer ball up, the countdown starting at three on the big screen. He riveted his eyes on it, as Hope kept her eyes on the field. When the countdown reached zero and the ball was dropped, Hope and Roy shouted simultaneously.

"Buneary, jump!" Hope yelled, gripping the guard rail tightly, knuckles white with the pressure.

"Samurai, now!" Roy cried.

Unfortunately, neither specified Pokémon got the ball. Instead, Samurai zipped up speedily, and collided with Buneary, who had jumped in his path. Buneary was knocked out of the air and Samurai, stunned by the impact, fell out of the air, right onto Earthy. The Dwebble quickly helped the Ninjask off his shell.

In the end, Hercules and Dragonair ended up fighting for the ball. Every time Hercules managed to snatch the ball with his formidable horn, Dragonair would flick her tail and knock it right off. Pachirisu was scrambling to grab the ball when it was sent flying, when the electric squirrel landed on the ground, Earthy the Dwebble was there to trip her up with his pincers. After a minute of scrabbling, Samurai took to the air with the ball secured safely in his claws.

Samurai was somewhat slower with the ball weighing it down, enabling Buneary to bounce into the air, spinning like a drill. She barely avoided a collision with the Ninjask, but in the confusion, grabbed the ball back. She threw it to Pachirisu, who wrapped the egg shaped ball in her tail and took off for Roy's goal, Dragonair trailing behind as a rear guard.

Hercules whipped around as Pachirisu and Dragonair scampered and swept past. Revealing his wings, the Heracross quickly buzzed after them.

Hercules, however, wasn't fast enough. Pachirisu spun around and spun the ball like a top, sending it towards the goal. Earthy was there already, but the spinning ball struck his shell ever so slightly, causing Dwebble to tip over and spin as well. The air horn sounded as the Baccer ball spun neatly into the goal.

Roy gritted his teeth as Samurai and Hercules returned to their goal. Heracross quickly flipped Dwebble over with his horn, patting Earthy reassuringly. On their side of the field, Pachirisu and Buneary posed with peace signs, while Dragonair hovered in the air regally.

"I'm not done yet!" Hope called, her eyes determinedly fixed on Roy's. Roy stared back.

"I'm not backing down! Face the full fury of the Bug types!" he retorted.

Dragonair started out with the ball as it dropped, scooping it up with her tail. She balanced it on the tip of her blue tail before Pachirisu jumped up behind her, grabbing it with her body and flipping in midair, effectively keeping the Bug Bashers from taking the ball away. But all the spinning and flipping caused Pachirisu to get dizzy, and the electric squirrel tottered around and collapsed onto the ground as she tried to re orientate herself.

In that time span, Hercules struggled with Dragonair and Buneary over the Baccer ball. In their struggle, Hercules sent the ball flying upwards and Samurai caught it, quickly zipping over to Hope's goal before Dragonair, Buneary, and Pachirisu could react. Once again, the air horn sounded, but this time in Roy's favor.

Hope looked on somewhat grimly. The score was even, 1-1, fifteen minutes into the battle. Although she hated to admit it, Roy's team was pretty good. "That was a lucky shot," she growled instead.

Roy sighed, straightening back up, raking a hand through his black slicked hair, messing up his hairdo. Short bangs fell into his eyes as he shook his head. "You play a pretty good game," he called back. "But it's pretty early. Don't get too overconfident."

Hope suddenly let out a giggle. "You are so cute when you're serious and not oblivious! You're almost as cute as Owen!"

Roy stared, not knowing what to think. "Okay..."

**Owen's POV**

I groaned. What was up with this girl and her obsession of me and Roy? I dearly hoped Roy would win... if only to get her off my back.

**Chyna's POV**

I spared a moment from watching Roy's Dwebble and Hope's Pachirisu squabble it out to glance at Owen. He had his face in his hands and seemed to be rather annoyed. After a moment, he lifted his head and had a calm expression. "Let's hope Roy wins, eh?" he chuckled. I took a double take at his almost instantaneous personality switch. Guess Owen could be cheerful after all. I was starting to think the guy was an emotionless enigma. I guess not. I turned back to the battle.

Dwebble had managed to send the ball rolling awkwardly away from his goal, the awkwardness coming from the strange shape of the ball. Why was it egg shaped anyhow? Chansey's choice?

Dragonair had taken possession; Samurai was close behind, darting back and forth in a somewhat succeeding attempt to snatch the ball. During the latest swipe, the ball had come loose from the grip Dragonair had, and the Ninjask lunged forward instantly.

"Come on Samurai!" Roy cried. "Throw it to Hercules!"

Samurai went into a quick midair spin and neatly tossed it at Hercules. In turn, Hercules grabbed it and hurled it like a football, directly at Earthy, who had scuttled rapidly over to Hope's goal. Her Pokémon had been conjugated around Hercules, and Dragonair had missed the ball by mere centimeters when it went whizzing over her sleek head.

Dwebble reached up with a pincer, snagged the metal rim of the Baccer ball – hey, question. Why is there a freakin _rim_ around the Baccer ball? So Dwebble had snagged the metal rim on his claw, and the ensuing momentum caused it to spin around. Dwebble transformed that momentum into energy for throwing, as his pincers weren't the most wieldy of forearms. Roy thrust his arms in the air in celebration as the air horn went off again.

"Yeah!" He yelled. "2-1!"

Hope scowled. "Pachirisu, Dragonair, Buneary, I know you can do better! Come on, let's step up the game!"

Pachirisu ran around excitedly while Buneary struck a cute pose. Dragonair just looked regal, like all of its species did. I leaned forward as Roy rose to meet the challenge, countering Hope's encouragement with a "We can do better too guys! I know you can do it!" The tension seemed to have risen a few degrees. Things were just getting kicked off...

**Hope's POV**

I grinned slyly while Roy wasn't looking. My Pokémon had been holding back slightly, like I had told them too, so Roy could score a few goals and hopefully get overconfident. Obviously, as that really wasn't the case, I wanted to go all out so I didn't lose any more goals.

"Come on!" I yelled. "Let's step up the game!" It sounded encouraging, which was what I wanted it to sound like. It was actually a bit of a code message, if you think about it. It told my Pokémon that it was time to stop goofing around and get serious. Buneary struck a pose – acknowledgement. Good.

I narrowed my eyes as the ref stepped up with the ball. The plan when I had yelled that sentence was for Buneary, Pachirisu, and Dragonair to form a triangle formation, Pachirisu in the middle, because she was the fastest and best thrower. They would advance in the triangle formation. Pachirisu was to fake a throw to Dragonair, but actually throw to Buneary. Buneary was by far the best catcher on my team, being able to jump really high. Dragonair was well rounded, being able to catch and throw well. My Pokémon would throw randomly from then on, like hot potato. All the while, they would draw closer and closer until they were a tight knot, plowing through Roy's Pokémon. The ball would be passed to Pachirisu, and she would make a well-deserved goal. That was the plan.

And what do you know, it worked like a charm.

Roy was caught off guard as my Pokémon advanced, as full team charges were rare and few in-between. Full team charges meant leaving your goal unprotected, and that was usually too big a risk to take. Not for my though. My Pokémon and I were always ready to take a risk, and surprise movements like this were key to winning. The score was now even 2-2, and I smirked at Roy's expression.

"Don't get too upset honey," I smirked. "Maybe after I win I can take you out, compensation for your loss."

I could see Roy shudder from all the way across the field. He didn't respond. Pity, he really was a cute one.

**Roy's POV**

I shuddered as Hope smirked at me, her tone sickly sweet. I chose not to reply, concentrating on the battle. It seemed to give her confidence. I sighed. I really, really, didn't get girls.

"Samurai," I called, "Let's do a full team charge too! Meet fire with fire!"

Samurai seemed confused, but complied. Hope seemed a bit startled. I supposed she didn't expect me to do something so... rash. Honestly, I didn't expect myself to either.

All of my Pokémon lined up side by side, as I commanded. Samurai faced Dragonair, Earthy, Buneary, and Hercules, Pachirisu. It seemed pretty even to me, although Samurai would have done better off facing Pachirisu. Hope's little electric squirrel was pretty fast, faster than Hercules, although I'm sure he would beg to differ.

The ball dropped, and a sudden image of Seedot dropping on New Year's Eve popped into my head. I quickly shook it off, but in that small moment of delay, Pachirisu had stolen the advantage I had hoped to gain. I growled quietly.

"Samurai, chase it down!" I ordered, pointing for emphasis. "Hercules, Earthy, guard!" Guard was a word I used when I wanted whichever Pokémon to guard whichever opponent. In this case, Samurai knew 'chase it down' meant Pachirisu, leaving Dragonair and Buneary to Hercules and Earthy.

Hercules did a good job retaining Dragonair. The Dragon type looked frustrated as she couldn't get past Hercules. He had his wings spread wide, and although that wasn't terribly wide, it was good enough to stop the young Dragon type. Buneary however, hopped right over Earthy. I let out a groan. Buneary could jump... should have predicted that. I changed my orders.

"Hercules!" I shouted. "Leave off Dragonair, get that Buneary! Earthy, guard Dragonair!" I doubted Earthy really could do much about Dragonair though. Dragonair was much larger than poor Earthy. Now if he had evolved... wait, nope. Against the rules... but Heracross was technically unevolved... perhaps if I had looked into the rules a bit more... much too late for that now.

Pachirisu had nearly reached the goal by now, with Samurai, wings fully extended, legs tucked in, whole body streamlined, and quickly closing whatever distance there was. Pachirisu spared a glance behind, a mistake that could prove to be fatal. The glance messed up her running rhythm, giving Samurai the edge he needed. Pachirisu made a snap decision to throw; I honestly thought we were finished there, even though we were tied at 2-2.

As Pachirisu leapt up to prepare a throw, Samurai zipped up from underneath and caught the Baccer ball as it left Pachirisu's paws. The forced made Samurai's wings backpedal furiously, and for a heart stopping moment, I thought Samurai would be knocked right out of the air. As it became evident that my Pokémon would be fine, I let out a breath I didn't remember holding.

"Go, go, go!" I yelled, as Samurai leveled off in the air and flew as fast as it possibly could towards Hope's goal. Dragonair, closer to Samurai than all Hope's other Pokémon, rolled around and was obviously aiming to knock Samurai out of the air as she streamed after him.

"Samurai, barrel roll!" I yelled quickly. Samurai rolled over and over in the air quickly, and Dragonair missed him by an inch. Samurai leveled off and continued flying. As Samurai neared the goal, Dragonair came back for a last second attempt to stop him. "Samurai, roll and throw!"

Samurai rolled again, and dropped the ball as he barely missed going splat against Hope's goal. The air horn sounded as the Baccer ball clanged nosily against the steel girders.

"Yeah!" I shouted gleefully. "Great job you guys!" Across the field, Hope's scowl was projected on the big screen.

"You did good this time," she snarled, "But you're not going to get another goal. You. Are. Going. _Down._"

I shuddered. This girl was insane I tell you. Hope had an extremely determined glare in her eyes, to the point of anger. "Calm down," I muttered under my breath, before calling out to Earthy to return to our goal, in case Hope made good on her threat. I was pretty confident that I could hold off any assault she threw at me, but I was just being cautious. You could never be too careful.

**Hope's POV**

I stood calmly. I knew my tone of voice had shook up Roy. Good. I had enough of this dragging battle. Being patient was actually one of my best traits, but I could tell that my Pokémon were tiring, and their condition was number one in my best interests.

Pachirisu rolled onto her back on the field, panting. I felt a stab of guilt; I knew stamina wasn't one of Pachirisu's best traits. Yes, ending it sounded very nice.

"Dragonair," I called rather calmly. My Dragonair perked her head up, made eye contact, and nodded the best a Dragonair could. Quickly floating to Pachirisu, she twined her tail around my little electric squirrel. Pachirisu squeaked in appreciation as Buneary hopped over.

Dragonair said something to Buneary and Pachirisu. If I had to make a guess, relaying a strategy. Contrary to opinion, Dragonair was as smart as I was. Perhaps more... that would be rather sad. A Pokémon smarter than me... sheesh.

But it seemed Dragonair was running the show now, so I put my hands behind my head and watched as Dragonair's strategy began to lay out.

**Chyna's POV**

"What is Hope doing?" I muttered, more to myself than to Mica or Owen. Both looked at me though.

"Perhaps... perhaps Hope trusts her Pokémon so much that she doesn't need to command them?" Mica said shyly.

Owen snorted. "Maybe. Or she's just overconfident enough to think that her Pokémon don't need commands. I've seen enough Baccer trainers during training to know that they are that stupid."

I laughed. "I don't know Owen. Pokémon are much more intelligent than we can comprehend. Dragon Pokémon especially."

Owen looked like he was about to respond when I noticed Hope's Pokémon doing something strange. Roy's Pokémon had the ball and advantage. Pachirisu and Buneary were bouncing off each other – more like Buneary helping jump higher – and playing Mankey in the middle with Heracross and Ninjask. Every time either bug type tried to fly off, either Pachirisu or Buneary would jump on them and struggle for the ball, bringing them down to the ground. They never did get the ball though.

Meanwhile, Dragonair was coiling and uncoiling in front of Dwebble, who had his pincers in front of him in a defensive gesture.

"Pachirisu, bring that pest down!" Hope shouted. Pachirisu looked at Hope, then with the help of Buneary, did a spinning jump right in front of Samurai, who currently had the ball. The force of Buneary's jump caused the ball to jar out of Ninjask's claws, right into Buneary's paws.

Buneary quickly hopped away, right at Dragonair. The serpent prevented Dwebble from seeing the oncoming Buneary, and thus didn't do anything.

Heracross jumped in front of Buneary, but the bunny easily hopped over the beetle, gathering speed. At the last second before they collided with each other, Dragonair uncoiled, letting Buneary barrel on through. Caught off guard, Dwebble faltered, and the ball went flying into the goal.

Pachirisu came running over to Buneary, and they cheered. Dragonair gave the equivalent of a smile, still looking regal. Seriously, Dragonair always seemed regal.

"Well, Hope might have intervened," Owen mused, "But it seemed that Dragonair seemed to have most of it covered. Very smart. Most trainers don't let their Pokémon command, well, their Pokémon. Very ingenious."

Beside me, Mica nodded. "I wonder if my Dragonair could do that," she murmured softly.

"Hm?" I asked, turning to her. "You said?"

Mica shook her head. "Nothing, Chyna."

"Okay then, Mica." I turned away from the shy girl.

"Hey, it's tied, right?" I asked Owen. Owen nodded.

"3-3. I hope Roy wins." He said.

I stared. "... Well that's mean. Why? Is it because Hope seems to like you?" I teased.

Owen looked away. "Shut up." He said clearly. I sighed.

"Whatever Edwards." I turned back to the battle. Again, Hope and Roy had already started. Dragonair was expertly bouncing the ball from tail tip to head and avoiding Roy's Pokémon with ease at the same time. It was an easy goal for Hope, and Roy looked frustrated. I chuckled.

"Well Owen, looks like your bet isn't holding up good for you." I commented.

"Shut up," he said again. This time, I didn't bother holding in my laughter. Mica looked at me curiously. "Nothing," I said in reply to her inquiring look. "Just watch the battle."

**Roy's POV **

"Oh boy..." I muttered. "Hope's good..." Because of two losses in a row, I had my Pokémon gather at my goal, but Samurai flat out refused to leave his position midfield. I left him there, hoping his speed would stop any more charges. Sadly to say, I was sorely wrong.

Samurai did get the ball when it fell, but Dragonair teased it away with her tail. "Samurai!" I called, "Get it back if you can! If not, get back over here!"

Again, Samurai flat out refused for some strange reason. "Samurai!" I called, frustrated. I knew Samurai probably wouldn't get it back, not how Dragonair, Pachirisu, and Buneary were playing three way Mankey in the middle.

Indeed, Hope's Pokémon outmaneuvered Samurai handily. "Samurai!" I called again. "Please, get back to our goal!" Once again, Samurai flat out refused and I wondered why. Perhaps it had something to do with inexperience... or maybe...

Too late. Dragonair went into a well-practiced torpedo spin, Buneary in the middle of the madly spinning blue serpent and Pachirisu right behind. Buneary had the ball, expertly stepping between Dragonair's spinning coils. Earthy and Hercules didn't stand a chance against the spinning cannon that was Dragonair, Buneary and Pachirisu. They were knocked aside as Hope won the battle. I sighed in defeat as I left the overhanging stand.

"Good battle," I said to Hope, as she met me on the field. She petted her Pokémon before she recalled them. Surprisingly, she didn't insult me.

"You too," she commented calmly. "Good fight." With that, she walked away, back to our reserved seats, while the crowd cheered.

"What a good fight!" The announcer said. "Roy certainly put up a good fight, but Hope prevailed in the end! Let's give a hand for Roy though!"

I glanced around, the cheering crowd shouting and yelling with excitement. I sighed, looking at Samurai, now in his Pokeball. "What's up with you today?" I whispered as I followed Hope. The crowd had calmed down by now, and on my way up, I bumped into Noah, who had apparently returned to see the end of the match.

"You lost?" He asked sympathetically.

"Yeah," I commented. "It was an awesome battle though, Hope was really strong. And there's always next year."

Noah grinned at that. "Then I hope to see you next year," he said. "I'm going to be there for sure."

"Cool!" I said in reply as we tramped up the long stairs. When we finally reached the seats reserved for the competitors, Owen, Odessa, and Mica greeted up with hellos and nice tries. Chyna gave us a small nod. I grinned lopsidedly.

"Thanks," I said in reply. I quickly searched for an empty seat. Chyna was in the middle, with Owen on her left and Mica on her right. Odessa sat next to Mica, while Noah took the seat next to Owen, who sat next to Hope. Izzy and... I think his name was Larch? Sat above the rest. I took a seat to the right of Izzy.

"Hey," she said amicably. "Nice match."

I just nodded distractedly, looking at Samurai's Pokeball. "What's wrong buddy?" I whispered quietly, not caring if Izzy heard. "Is it just that I'm not strong enough a trainer? That you want mom to train you?"

Larch interrupted my train of thought with a "Nicely played, Roy. I enjoyed seeing your battle style. Perhaps we could get together afterwards, trade strategies and such."

I nodded. "Thanks... Larch."

He nodded, briskly pushing up his glasses. "You're welcome."

I was going to reply when the announcer came on, announcing the next match. "Well ladies and gents, Roy Grant and Hope Tranquil certainly gave us an exciting match, but can this next battle keep up the heat? We'll see! Let's have Odessa Marie Polinski and Mica Lancaster take the stage, shall we? Odessa, Mica, come on down!"

Odessa stood, brushing out the wrinkles in her skirt. "The awesome me's battle is finally here!" she cried. "Mica, you won't know what hit you!" With that, she flounced off, down the stairs, towards the field.

As if coordinating, everyone looked at Mica, who was standing, face down, cheeks flushed slightly. She seemed rather slapdash with her overlarge purple t-shirt, tattered jean shorts and sneakers compared with Odessa's white frilly cardigan, lacy skirt, and white sandals, but when she did happen to look up, her large chocolate eyes were burning pools of determination and her cinnamon colored skin practically radiated her will to win.

As Mica trod past Chyna, the teen murmured a sentence of good luck, as did Owen and Noah. Izzy and Larch said nothing however, and I just couldn't bring myself to say anything.

Odessa had beat Mica to the field, and her Pokémon were already present. Mina the Emolga, Violo the Drifblim, and Star the Altaria seemed ready and willing to battle.

Mica quietly released her Pokémon one by one as the she neared the field. Ninetails, Eevee, and Dragonair all appeared in showers of light. Hope perked up with interest as Dragonair appeared.

"And the battle between Mica Lancaster and Odessa Marie Polinski shall now commence! All sides will fight fair and it's 5 goals to win folks! And the battle starts... Now!"

* * *

**Mew: So, what'd you think?**

**Molly: Leave your comments in a review! Let's see if we can get up to 32 reviews this time! That's... er... **

**Mew: ... We have 26 right now? That's 6 more reviews. You can do it! I know you can! **

**Molly: Yup! Review, please! And have a good night! (Don't let the mosquitoes bite.) **


	6. Chapter 6

**Mew: I'm really sorry for not updating soon. There's been... an... unfortunate incident recently. Let's just say... there were 5 of us Friday night. There are 4 of us now. ... You might guess what happened. This chapter might not be the best cause I haven't much inspiration lately. But I'll persevere. I think. I'm not giving this up though! Count on that. I don't own anything. **

**Pokémon Baccer World Cup**

**Chapter 5**

**Bailee's POV**

When I finally returned to the battlers seats with a soda, Mica and Odessa were on the field. As I took my seat behind Chyna, I noticed that Odessa was calling some strange commands to get Pokémon.

"I've heard 'Midfield' or 'Go on offensive' before, but Cha Cha and Salsa?" I remarked calmly, popping the tab on my Sprite and taking a quick sip. Chyna twisted around to look at me. She shrugged.

"I think Odessa used to do contests or something like that," she commented. "I'm not sure, but her Pokémon certainly have that contest sparkle. They seem to be very aggressive as well."

True to Chyna's word, Odessa's Altaria bulled her way past Mica's Eevee, knocking the smaller Pokémon aside carelessly as she hooked a talon on the ring of the Baccer ball and whirling it into Mica's goal gracefully, winning the 14 year old the first goal within the first minute.

"She's much better than I thought she would be," Chyna said, crossing her legs. "Mica has to step up her game a bit or Odessa's going to run all over her."

I nodded although I knew Chyna couldn't see me. "Mica seems... Very passive. Very quiet. Kind of strategic."

Larch looked at me. "Indeed," he said quietly. "Rather, I think Mica will walk all over Odessa. Odessa is rather... Erratic, in a sense. She also seems overconfident. Overconfidence will be her downfall."

I paused, absorbing what Larch had said. "I have to disagree with you Larch. Odessa may be overconfident, but she has a strong sense of leadership and command, something I think Mica doesn't have. I'd have to bet on Odessa on this."

**Mica's POV**

I bit my lip nervously. Although I knew everything to know about Pokémon Baccer, this was my first time participating in a serious tournament. Occasionally I would join my neighborhood tournament, but only on rare days. My Pokémon were stronger than the other Pokémon the kids in my neighborhood had, giving me an unfair advantage.

Of course, here, I had the disadvantage.

I was a shy girl by nature. Everyone knew that. I also wasn't a very strong girl, or a girl emitting confidence. And I was pretty sure Odessa would take advantage of that.

"Star, Cha Cha to the left, than Salsa!" Odessa called loudly. I was aback taken for an instance. What did Cha Cha and Salsa mean?

I got my answer a second later. Odessa's Altaria whirled past my Ninetales with a swish of feathers, and between my Dragonair and Eevee. Unfortunately, with that action, Altaria bulled over Eevee, knocking my Pokémon over with a pitiful cry. I ignored Altaria, who was closing in on my goal with the ball, and focused on Eevee. "Dragonair!" I called. "Help Eevee! Ninetails, watch over them!"

Dragonair cooed compliantly, floating over the small brown Evolution Pokémon, gently curling her tail under the mammalian Pokemon's belly and helping Eevee up. Dragonair then glared angrily at Altaria, who shrieked defiance back.

"Dragonair, it's not worth it!" I called softly. Dragonair gave a shrill of anger before turning back to me. I smiled at Dragonair. "Do your best!" Dragonair nodded.

This time, Ninetails managed to nab the ball first with one of her tails; Emolga didn't dare go after it then. Instead, it floated around, hovering over Ninetails, just waiting until she dropped or threw the ball. I decided to throw Emolga a loop.

I whistled musically, attracting Eevee's and Dragonair's attention. I signaled with my eyes for Dragonair to creep up on Emolga without attracting too much attention and for Eevee to distract Odessa's Driftblim and Altaria. Eevee looked slightly scared about meeting Altaria again, but he trusted me, trotting over to the Dragon type and Ghost/Flying type and giving forth a challenging cry.

Ninetails threw up the ball, twirling, catching the rim of the ball with the tip of one of her tails, causing it to slam into Emolga with more power than usual. Emolga was pushed back a few meters before the flying electric squirrel got her erratic flight under control.

Right behind Emolga, Dragonair shrieked loudly, startling Emolga enough to drop the ball in Ninetails waiting grasp. Without another seconds hesitation, Ninetails bolted away, leaped around Altaria, mocking the Dragon bird, and curveballed the Baccer ball around Drifblim and into the goal.

"Impossible!" Odessa shrieked as the foghorn went off. "How could a scrawny girl like you possibly touch my unbeatable team!"

Across the field, I frowned slightly at the barrage of insults. Honestly it didn't bother me, but it was a bit disconcerting. Really distracting as well.

The good part was the Odessa didn't notice when the ref walked in with the ball again, thus not giving her Pokémon any orders, giving me another easy goal. 2-0 now. Great.

Odessa seemed to decide glare at me instead of shout. I was grateful. I think her shouting was angering my Pokémon, as Ninetails was bristling and Eevee was snarling furiously. Dragonair glared.

"Calm down," I murmured quietly, my Pokémon miraculously hearing me. "It's fine. Let's just beat her and get this over with. I know you can do it," I soothed.

Ninetails growled in response as Eevee chirped compliantly while Dragonair just coiled up and cooed.

"Hey, Mica!" I heard my name being shouted from across the field. "Hurry up!"

Odessa's Pokémon were already gathered at the center, aggressive in all their glory.

"Ninetails, Dragonair," I called softly. "Engage."

Dragonair floated forward to snag the ball this time, Ninetails right behind for defense. The second the ball dropped, Dragonair twisted, turned, and flicked her tail up, catching the Baccer ball on the rim, similar to Hope's Dragonair did.

"Ninetails, guard!" I called out. Ninetails tossed her head and tails, growling in confirmation. As Dragonair rose to the maximum height, 5'5 feet into the air, which was actually pretty generous in my opinion. Which was guided by the fact I was only 4'11.

"Star, Salsa behind Ninetails, then do a triple spiral for the ball!" Odessa cried. Star shrieked, quickly lunging between Ninetails and Dragonair, cutting the distance close. The Dragon type then spun three times into the air gracefully, waving her cotton like wings up and down, rotating like a drill. The Altaria took Dragonair by surprise, flipping at the last possible second, snagging the Baccer ball with her talons and leveling off right before the disqualifying point.

"Dragonair, chase!" I called. I seemed calm outwardly, but inwardly, I was sweating. Odessa was probably more experienced than me... I needed to take her by surprise. "Ninetails, Eevee! Leave the goal and pursue!"

My Pokémon looked at me strangely, but obeyed. Ninetails ran swiftly, lashing her tails at Odessa's Emolga when it came too close. Eevee dodged her Drifblim when it floated at her and tried to block her. They both jumped in Altaria's path, Eevee crying out angrily and lunging at the ball, ignoring the danger of her talons. Ninetails whipped her tails at her eyes, blinding the bird briefly, giving Dragonair the chance to join the gang up and snatch the ball.

"Dragonair, Eevee, you know what to do!" I looked both Pokémon in the eye, and they nodded, understanding.

Dragonair dropped the Baccer ball to Eevee, who was underneath the Dragon Pokémon. Eevee leapt up and snatched the ball's rim in her mouth. The weight of the plastic and metal ball caused her head to dip down towards the ground, but sheer will caused her to lift her head and glare at Odessa.

Dragonair hovered before diving down and encircling Eevee with her body. Ninetails stayed behind them, lashing her tails at Altaria, who had dared come too close.

"Now!" I called out. Eevee struggled for a second before Ninetails gently butted her forward and with the initial momentum from Ninetails, leapt forward. Dragonair caught up easily and started to spiral around her, over and under. Eevee easily leapt over Dragonair when the dragon type spiraled under her.

I supposed it looked like Eevee was in the middle of a Dragonair drill. I had no idea what other people thought, but I when I had created the technique – I called it the Dra-Eve Drill – I thought it was pretty ingenious. Not that I was bragging, of course.

The Dra-Eve Drill worked to perfection. As planned, at the speed Dragonair was rotating around Eevee, it deflected all attempts to get at Eevee and the Baccer ball inside. Odessa's Emolga and Altaria tried valiantly, but to no avail. When my team reached her Drifblim, Ninetails leapt over Dragonair and Eevee, straight at the balloon-like Pokemon. Dragonair and Eevee separated, Dragonair spiraling dizzily off to the right and Eevee lunging at the left.

With a quick flick of her head, the ball was sent spinning awkwardly into the goal. It barely made it, but it did in the end. I cheered happily as Eevee and Dragonair collapsed onto the ground, strained and dizzy. Ninetails nudged them over to our side of the field.

"Great job!" I said excitedly. The score was now 3-0. The only problem was that Odessa seemed pretty angry at us now, Emolga and Altaria glaring at Dragonair and Eevee and Drifblim staring at Ninetails. I knew that Dragonair and Eevee were probably too strained to put up much of a fight now. It was all up to Ninetails. "Ninetails! You can do it! Like we practiced now!"

Odessa looked at me from across the field. I didn't know why, but I shuddered. I had a feeling that she was about to get serious with me.

**Odessa's POV**

I was furious. That Lancaster girl, how dare she! She had put down my star team with ease. But now it seemed that her defenses were down. Against all musical and coordinating rules, (Not that I was any good at coordinating contests anyway. Honestly, I sucked in that category. 4 losses in a row.) I went for an all-out attack.

"Mina!" I cried. "Grab onto Star!" Star currently had the Baccer ball in her talons; she had nabbed it away from Lancaster's Ninetails when the ref had dropped it. Right now, her Dragonair and Eevee were guarding the goal. It would be a bit tricky to navigate past them, but nothing my Pokemon couldn't handle. "Violo! It's time to tango!"

Violo, my Drifblim, floated over to Ninetails and began blocking the vixen's way to the ball. She snapped and snarled to no avail.

With Mina latched onto her back, Star flew at Dragonair and Eevee directly. Eevee tried to stand its ground, but was knocked aside as Mina leapt off Star's back and confused it with a series of aerobatic movements, her swift actions a blur to the human eye.

Star shrieked at Dragonair bulling her back with feints and aggressive actions. The second the goal was clear, my Altaria tossed the ball into the goal and glared at Dragonair afterwards. Mica's Dragonair seemed too tired to retort and hovered in the air instead.

"Great job!" I shouted. "The awesome me and her Pokémon have scored a goal!" Mina, Star, and Violo grouped in the center for another goal. Ninetails looked slightly apprehensive about facing off against them all, but glanced back at the panting Eevee and tired Dragonair and seemed to sum up some courage. It howled with defiance and lashed its tails.

"Some fight still left, eh?" I said, amused. "Well, I suppose we'll have to put an end to that, eh?" Then in a louder voice: "Star! Aggressive attack!"

Since we had 'kindly' let Ninetails have the ball this time, (More like Star and Mina were arguing over it and they dropped it,) Star had to go retrieve it before the speedy fox dodged Violo's defense.

Ninetails was already panting from its earlier maneuver, although it didn't do much. It didn't take too long for Star to retrieve the ball, throw it to Mina, and for Mina to nimbly dodge Eevee's weak lunge and Dragonair's wildly aimed tackle. The air horn blew, music to my ears when it was happening for me.

"And the awesome me scores again!" I squealed. Inside I was grinning happily. That Mica Lancaster was so not going to win now!"

**Chyna's POV**

"Seems Odessa's making a comeback," I remarked, leaning forward for a better view. "I think it's anyone's game now. What do you think, Bailee? Larch?" I turned around to face the so called people.

Larch stayed quiet for a moment before responding. "Well, Odessa is bit rambunctious in my opinion, but she is also strong team wise, and also overconfident. I think if she lost, that would be her downfall. Mica has a good team as well, but it seems they tire somewhat easily, and she is rather quiet. Her Pokémon have to either turn or get closer to hear her. I think if she lost, it would be due to her shy and under confident act. Otherwise, I think they're equally matched."

Bailee nodded in agreement with Larch. "I think you're right Larch. What do you think Izzy?"

Izzy looked over at Bailee. "Well, I think Odessa has the better chance of winning. She's more aggressive with her actions, and she isn't afraid to take charge. Her Altaria is also equally aggressive, not afraid to take control."

I nodded. "What do you think Owen?" I asked, then turned to Noah. "You?"

Owen looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged. "Any person's game to me."

Noah disagreed. "I think it's all in for Mica. I can tell she had a really strong bond with her Pokémon. They understand her. They'll even do that self-sacrifice drill thingamamove for her."

I nodded again. "I agree with Noah. I think it's all Mica's game. But, if she doesn't sum up some more courage soon, I think Odessa's got it in the bag."

Bailee grinned, still slowly sipping her soda. "Well, let's see what happens!"

**Mica's POV**

I gritted my teeth. Dragonair and Eevee still weren't back to full strength yet. I could tell because Eevee was struggling to lift her head; the sheer weight from the Baccer ball had put so much strain on her neck. I felt terribly, but Eevee had been willing to do it when I asked. So I let her do it. Now though, I was having second thoughts.

Dragonair was almost ready to hop back into the game. She was about to move more freely now, unhampered by any lingering dizziness. From out practices back home, I knew that if she moved to suddenly, the dizziness would come back. It took at least 5 to 6 minutes for it to completely go away. 3 minutes had passed from the Dra-Eve Drill, and with at least 2 minutes to go, Odessa could easily win the whole thing.

"Ninetails!" I yelled, a sudden bolt of courage going through me. "Come on!"

Ninetails looked up at me, startled at the volume of my usually quiet voice, than let out a equally loud bark in response. She lowered her head to the ground, hackles raised, muzzle frothing, and snarling angrily. Dragonair perked her head up, as if inspired by Ninetails sudden show of ferocity. She curled up, then lashed out with a bone chilling shriek of her own. Eevee joined them, slipping in the middle and barking with a ferocity I had never seen from the gentle pup before.

Odessa looked aback taken, as did her Pokémon. As I saw the Baccer ball slip fractionally from Emolga's paws, Dragonair did as well and make a quick, sudden lunge forward, ramming into the ball with her horn, putting all the momentum of her makeshift Skull Bash into it.

Emolga jerked back from the aggressive action, dropping the Baccer ball. Despite the pain from her neck, Eevee leapt forward and began to half drag, half carry the ball in a slow, awkward lope towards the goal. Altaria flew forward and buffeted the smaller Pokémon with its wings, knocking her astray.

"EEVEE!" I screamed, fearing for my youngest Pokémon. Ninetails raced forward, tearing up the grass with her claws, and neatly tore the ball away from Altaria and began racing for the goal. Altaria and Emolga tried several times to retrieve the ball, but Ninetails was in a raging fury. Angered by Altaria's treatment of Eevee, she knocked both aside and scored, almost toppling the goal over. Ninetails then stalked back to our side, tails held high, and grabbed Eevee by the scruff on the way back and held her gently.

Honestly, I was shocked at Ninetails ferocity. All these years I had taught her to be gentle, and in the space of a few minutes, she had turned onto a furious monster.

But she was still gentle with Eevee...

"Nine!" Ninetails barked at me. I looked up.

"Great job Ninetails!" I called. I shouldn't doubt my Pokémon. I know they're loyal to me. Ninetails was like a motherly Pokémon after all. She was only protecting Eevee.

"Go get em Ninetails!" I called encouragement. She barked again.

Dragonair seemed to be in the fight once more. She seemed to want to get in there again, to score the last goal that we so desperately needed to win. But Eevee needed to be watched over. "Dragonair! Help Eevee!"

Dragonair glanced over at Eevee and floated over to her, then hovered in front of her protectively. I nodded. "Good!"

When the ball dropped, Ninetails grabbed it out of midair before Emolga came flying out of nowhere and landed on her face. In a frantic last ditch attempt to get it off, Ninetails dropped the ball and shook her head. Emolga clung on bravely as Drifblim grabbed the ball from the ground and threw it like a hammer. I sighed. Goal for Odessa.

"Yeah!" I heard Odessa shout from across the field.

I was more determined than ever to win. "Dragonair!" I shouted. "Your turn!"

Dragonair looked up and joined Ninetails at the center of the field. Eevee managed to stumble up and over to the goal, intent on blocking whatever came her way. I smiled at her.

When the ball was thrown once more, Odessa's Emolga was right off the bat. It swooped in with great speed and agility and twirled off, spinning right over Dragonair's head. She looked up before launching herself after it. Ninetails prevented Altaria from chasing after Dragonair and Emolga, but Drifblim slipped past her defense.

Eevee loped towards Drifblim. I could hear Odessa call for Drifblim to salsa or something like that, but Eevee blocked Drifblim's every move. Unlike Emolga and Altaria, who weren't afraid to be aggressive, Drifblim refused to hurt Eevee. Instead, it gave up and Odessa gave the command to 'take 5'. Drifblim looked down at Eevee and headed back for its goal. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks Drifblim," I muttered.

Meanwhile, Dragonair had tipped the ball away from Emolga into Eevee's waiting paws. She rolled it for a fair bit before preparing her neck and clamping her jaws down on it. Bravely, Eevee carried it across the field before Dragonair caught up and wrapped her tail around Eevee and literally flew her the rest of the way.

Before they reached Drifblim at the end of the field, Eevee threw the ball one way while jumping at Drifblim in another. Drifblim shifted ever so slightly to avoid the little sandy colored Pokémon, and as a result, the Baccer ball half bounced, half rolled into the goal.

I stayed silent as the air horn blew one last time and they announced me as the winner. It wasn't until I robotically walked down to the field that it sunk in.

I won.

I actually won.

"Eevee! Dragonair, Ninetails, you were AWESOME!" I cried, hugging Ninetails around the neck. I then rubbed Dragonair on the head and picked up poor exhausted Eevee.

"Vee!" Eevee cried, rubbing up against my neck. She then curled up in my arms and fell asleep. Ninetails braced her front paws against my shoulders, looked at the small, sleeping Pokémon, then gently bit her scruff and picked her up. She then looked back at me. I looked at Dragonair, before walking over to Odessa, who was comforting her Pokémon.

"Good contest," I said, holding out a hand. Odessa looked at me before accepting.

"Good game," she said cheerfully. "We'll have to go at it again one day, hm?" I smiled back, my naturally shy nature back.

"Yeah," I said. Odessa recalled her Pokémon and left, leaving me with the cheering crowd.

"_Mi-ca! Mi-ca!" _They chanted. I could only take so much before I recalled my own Pokémon before scampering out to find Nurse Joy.

My Pokémon really deserved a long rest.

* * *

**Mew: So, congrats to Mica. Remember, I do not choose the winners. A random machine did. I've got every battle plus its winner written out. So review please! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Mew: YES, another update for you guys! I hurried to get this one out for you guys. Something important happens, can you guess? Actually, don't cause you might spoil it - for yourselves! :D So, just enjoy, remember, I don't own anything except for Chyna, and I'll see you at the bottom! :D **

**Pokemon Baccer World Cup**

**Chapter 6**

**Chyna's POV**

I sighed in somewhat relief. "She won," I said, leaning back in my chair. Odessa came up the stairs with a somewhat disappointed, somewhat happy expression on her face. She plopped down in her seat.

"Great game there Odessa!" I said cheerfully, reaching over Owen to pat the younger teen on the back. "You've got some great Pokémon!"

She smiled a bit. "Thanks. I'm happy that Mica won. She needs the confidence. She'd better win the whole thing though!"

I laughed. "She just might! But she'll have to go through me first! Hey, who's battling next anyhow?"

Bailee leaned over my shoulder. "I've battled," she said. "Noah has, Odessa and Mica just have, and, hey, Izzy hasn't battled yet."

Izzy leaned over my other shoulder. "Oh, Larch and I aren't competing."

Bailee looked at her. "Really?"

Izzy sighed. "Yup."

"Bummer."

"Yeah."

"Okay," I said, somewhat creeped out. "Done with your conversation? Good. Move." I pushed them back. "So we've crossed out Bailee, Noah, Odessa, and Mica," I muttered, ticking their names off on my fingers as I went. I then paused. "I'm missing a battle, aren't I?"

Someone coughed behind me. "Excuse me? That's me and Roy you're forgetting."

I turned around, startled. Hope was glaring at me, with Roy sitting beside her, looking at me. I laughed nervously. "Haha... Sorry guys! You've been so quiet, I totally forgot!"

On the other side of Hope, Noah glanced at the girl and Roy. "You guys are quiet. Anything wrong?" he asked, slight concern in his voice.

Roy shook his head. "Nope. Just trying to watch the battle. And I think they're announcing the next battle... now."

Roy's prediction was right on the dot.

"Ladies and gents, the last battle of the preliminary rounds!" The announcer called. "And it's... Owen Edwards versus Chyna Zevvy! You two contestants, let have a nice, fair match! Come on down!"

I looked over at Owen in somewhat shock. He was staring straight forward, not looking at me. "Good luck," he muttered, before standing up and walking down. I gulped a little before scampering down after him.

"Go Thomas, Leroy, and Samuel!" A Shiftry, Machamp, and Oshawott appeared in that order. I quickly memorized their nicknames so that I wouldn't get confused during the battle.

"Go Rio, Meta, and Luca!" I tossed Riolu's, Metagross', and Lucario's Pokeball's. They appeared on the field, ready and raring to go.

"Rio!" Riolu cried, before Luca shushed him. He calmed down, but kept bouncing up and down. Across the field on the opposite stand, I thought I saw Owen smile a bit. He probably did too.

"Well, let's a have a good game, huh?" I yelled. "Good luck!"

"You too," he called back. Shiftry and Machamp called out as well. Oshawott patted its chest in pride. I chuckled.

"Luca, guard." I said calmly. "Meta, Rio, midfield please." My Pokémon moved to their ordered places. Owen said something to his Pokémon that I couldn't decipher, and they moved as well.

Although I knew Luca was more powerful, Rio was faster. Meta provided any power that Rio need, and although he was better a guard, Luca was more agile. I figured that this was the best starting positions, and as the game wore on, I would revert to my usual, Luca midfield, Rio on defensive, and Meta on guard.

Rio and Meta was now facing Owen's Oshawott and Shiftry. Machamp was halfway to his goal, not quite midfield, but not quite guard either. Defensive, I suppose.

"Rio, ready stance," I warned, watching the ball with a keen eye. He nodded, crouching down, ready to spring. Meta whirred its legs around, making confirming noises. I chuckled. "You too, Meta," I called.

"Samuel!" I heard Owen call. "Block that Riolu! Thomas! You get that Metagross!"

As the ref dropped the ball, Rio sprang for it the second Oshawott jumped at him. Meta attempted to help the young Pokémon only to be blocked by Shiftry's leafy fans.

Rio expertly dodged Oshawott's somewhat clumsy lunge and spun the Baccer ball on the tip of his tail. He grinned before throwing it up and flipping backwards before landing and whacking the ball with his forepaws at Meta. Meta blocked Shiftry with one large metal claw, catching the ball in another.

"Luca!" I shouted. "Forward!" Luca looked up at me, nodded, and dashed forward. She leapt over Meta, barely clearing Shiftry's head, grabbing the ball in the process. Meta retreated to the goal.

Rio caught up with Luca and they tossed the ball back and forth above Shiftry's head. Oshawott, knowing that it couldn't reach anyhow, stood midfield in hopes that the ball would somehow travel its way.

Close to Owen's Machamp, Rio had possession of the ball. He tried to throw it to Luca, but Machamp intercepted, grabbing the ball from him and throwing it to Shiftry all the way across the field. Rio looked at Luca before beginning to dash over. Luca stayed her place.

It was pretty apparent Rio wasn't going to be able to slow Shiftry any, so I focused on Meta.

"Meta!" I called. "Four armed block!" Meta whirred its arms around before spreading them and facing the oncoming Shiftry. I noticed a small breech its guard and wondered if it was trying to trick Shiftry. '

It didn't work. Instead of trying to throw like I thought it might would, it threw the ball backwards while lunging at Meta. Meta moved over to the side slightly and Oshawott jumped over Shiftry, helped a bit by its leafy fans. Shiftry bounced Oshawott and the ball over with its fans, and Oshawott tossed the ball into the goal with ease. I gritted my teeth.

"Nice work, Owen," I called over to him. He nodded.

"Nice try," I replied.

As we waited for the ball to drop again, I rearranged my team's position. "Meta, guard!" I called. "Rio, Luca, offensive!" They nodded and took up position.

This time, Owen's Machamp was on offensive, Oshawott on defensive, and Shiftry on guard.

"Hm..." I murmured. "Machamp... okay."

As I predicted, Machamp got the ball right off the bat. I quickly called Luca back and Metagross forward. It started to grapple with Machamp for the ball. Rio began to run interference, running and snatching at the ball. Just as Oshawott ran up to help Machamp, Rio nabbed the ball and dodged past the little sea otter. Oshawott pursued Rio, but Machamp blocked Metagross from helping my little blue Pokémon.

Luca looked like she wanted to dash out and help him, but I stayed her at the goal. The last time we needed was Machamp or Shiftry getting the ball and not having a guard.

"Riolu!" I shouted. "Jump!" Rio looked back before crouching and bouncing back, over the incoming Oshawott's head. It dashed right under him before stopping. Rio was now behind Oshawott, with the ball.

Oshawott ran at Rio again, and Rio jumped around it instead of above. He ran then, right at Shiftry. He nimbly twirled over Shiftry's lunge, whirling the ball around with his paws to give him the spinning momentum before tossing it right past Shiftry. He leapt and ran back in joy. I cheered.

"Great job Rio!" I called. "You guys did an awesome job!"

**Owen's POV**

I watched Chyna congratulate her Pokémon, and wondered why she was so jubilant. She had to get five goals before she really won. She was only 2 years younger than me, really. So I did wonder why...

"Samuel!" I called. "Great try!" Samuel looked a bit sad, but nodded. "Thomas! Offensive! Leroy, let's go with defensive, okay? Samuel! Join Thomas with offensive! Let's go, Leonardo's Stars for the win!"

I heard Chyna retaliate at that. "Go, Team Lumeri!" I had to chuckle.

"Thomas! The Baccer ball!" I shouted. Thomas nodded before running at Chyna's Lucario, who had the ball. Samuel joined in and they rushed it, grabbing the ball away from Chyna's Lucario in the process. Samuel got away with it while Lucario, frustrated, was blocked by Thomas.

Samuel switched with Leroy, Leroy taking the ball to Chyna's goal and Samuel taking the position of guard. Leroy ran past Thomas and Lucario, easily dodged Riolu's somewhat ineffective lunge, and threw the ball under Metagross' body and scored us another goal. The score was now 2-1.

"Good job guys!" I called, grinning.

"Nice goal – again." I heard Chyna say from across the field. I nodded. "But you're not going to get another goal! Luca, snatch and run!"

As the ref threw in the Baccer ball, Chyna's Lucario flipped into the air and used its tail to slam the ball down at the ground and catch it with its paws on its way down. I was impressed by the skill it must have took, but not terribly impressed.

"Leroy!" I shouted. "Thief!" My Shiftry then sidled in beside Lucario and smacked the ball out of its paws with his fans. Lucario snarled and chased after it, only to have it snatched away by Samuel. Samuel was then taken a swing at by Metagross. Startled, he dropped the ball and Metagross picked it up.

"Meta!" I heard Chyna shout. "Hammer swing, let's go!" Metagross began to spin quickly, faster and faster. Finally, it let go of the ball, and Thomas had to duck to avoid getting sawed in half by the rapidly rotating ball with its deadly blade-like rim. I had always wondered why it was egg shaped and had a metal rim around it. I would never find out.

**Chyna's POV**

We were about halfway through the battle now, 2-2, when I heard something decidedly strange. Something buzzing... like an insects wings... I couldn't hear much over that annoying buzzing. ... Why was Owen shouting... Something... and pointing behind me?

I quickly spun around to see a Ninjask hovering behind me with a Shadow Ball charged up and ready to go. I backed up and bumped into the railing. Nervously, I glanced over the edge. Not a good idea. If I fell from that height, I'd probably break a bone, perhaps worse.

I guess I'd just have to trust Meta at the goal.

Without hesitation, I flipped over the railing and fell feet first towards the ground, my hair coming out of its bun and trailing above me as I fell. "Meta!" I cried. "Help!"

Meta looked up in surprise, then quickly floated up and caught me with its claws. It wasn't soft, but I didn't break anything, or so I thought. That Ninjask had fired the Shadow Ball when I had flipped over the guard railing, and it had grazed my wrist painfully. The flesh was burned slightly, and throbbed painfully. I couldn't tell if it was sprained or something, certainly a minor burn, but hopefully not worse.

"Are you okay?" Owen shouted from above. I looked up at him, than gasped. "Metagross!" I screamed. "Use Psychic and get Owen outta there!" Meta's eyes and steel cross glowed before a blue aura surrounded Owen and safely brought him to the ground. His disappearance revealed three Ninjask hovering where he had been standing a few moments ago, all with a charged Shadow Ball. They fired at him.

"Luca!" I shouted, the aura Pokémon running up to me. "Use Aura Sphere and knock away those Shadow Ball's!" Luca quickly formed a sphere of aura and fired it. It collided with the three Shadow Ball's in an explosion of smoke.

We coughed, blinking tears away from our eyes. As I blinked, I saw someone appear from the smoke. As I scanned the figure, I yelped and started to back away.

The person was a well-known criminal for escaping prison and appearing in large mass crowds to cause chaos and possibly death. And it seemed the Pokémon Baccer World Cup was his current target.

The criminal was none other than Goone, Grings Kodai's minion. It was rumored that he was no longer allied with Kodai, a freelancer now that he had escaped prison.

"...!" I tried to speak, but nothing passed my mouth. My hands were clenched and it felt like I was shivering all over. Shivering with fear.

Goone snapped his fingers and suddenly, hundreds and hundreds of Ninjask filled the stadium. And then the screaming started.

People were stampeding to get out, screaming in fear and terror, trampling over each other with only survival in mind. Bailee appeared in my line of vision with her Hydreigon in tow, roaring at the Ninjask and snapping at them with all three heads. Mica was there, ordering her Ninetails to flame all the Ninjask. Noah ran around on Zebstrika, with Typhlosion getting ganged by tons of Ninjask. They were eradicated with a single Lava Plume.

Larch was there as well, calmly standing off to the side while his Pidgey held off most the Ninjask with a strong Gust and Arcanine spitting Ember at them. Izzy covered his back with Glaceon, the sleek icy blue cat using Blizzard in succession.

Hope and Odessa were also back to back, with Roy covering both sides. Hope's Dragonair was using Aqua Tail and Dragon Rage, but the Ninjask kept coming. Odessa's Drifblim was blowing them away with Ominous Wind, and Roy's own Ninjask picked off the stragglers with its own Shadow Ball.

Beside me, Owen had recalled his Machamp and Oshawott, and had only his Shiftry out. Shiftry was blinding the Ninjask with Leaf Storm, then slashing through them with Aerial Ace. All that was left was for me to join in on the battle.

Around me, my Pokémon were valiantly fighting without orders. I was shaking with fear. I'd never liked Pokémon battles, never, not even as a child. That was why I was so taken to Baccer. I disliked my Pokémon getting injured by moves, and always avoided battles, thus never leveling up my Pokémon, only with mock battles facing off Bailee when necessary. But now, I guess I had to take the reins.

"Meta, Psychic!" I shouted. "Rio, use Quick Attack, and Luca, use Aura Sphere!" My Pokémon knew a limited amount of moves, only ones that they learned naturally, and we practiced them occasionally so they wouldn't forget them. My Metagross was only at level 45, Riolu at level 12, and Lucario at level 30. I knew Metagross was by far the strongest, but didn't know many good moves. Psychic was its main move, followed by Bullet Punch, than Metal Claw. Other than those three moves, it knew nothing else.

Same with Riolu and Lucario. At his low level, Riolu only knew Quick Attack and Force Palm. He did know more moves, but had forgotten how to use them. Luca's main move was Aura Sphere. Normally, she wouldn't be able to use it until level 51, but she had learned how to manipulate her aura early on as a Riolu. When she had evolved, she had naturally learned Aura Sphere already. Her only other moves were Metal Claw, Dark Pulse, and Force Palm.

The Ninjask were falling quickly, but when one fell, two took its place. It was like they were endless! I backed over to Owen.

"Owen!" I said loudly. He looked down at me. "We've got to subdue Goone. Cut off the snakes head, the body will fall!"

Owen nodded. "I see," he said. "I'll cover you. Get him!" His Shiftry whirled around, clearing at straight path at him with its Leaf Storm. Luca charged on through, with Rio at her side. I rode on Meta.

"Luca, Force Palm!" I shouted. She did so, was flung aside by a well-aimed Metal Claw from a Scizor. It took its place by Goone's side, joined by another Scizor. I frowned.

"Luca, use Force Palm again!" I called. "Rio, same thing! Meta, use your Bullet Punch!"

Meta charged forwards, and I held on tightly. Bullet Punch connected, but did little damage. A retaliation Razor Wind flung me off Meta. I yelped in pain as my body slammed into the ground, tumbling around violently. My wrist was jarred painfully, and I screamed.

"Rio!" I cried. "Get away! They're too strong! Meta, get Rio outta here! Luca-!" Goone grabbed the collar of my navy blue t-shirt and dragged me up.

"What's this," he hissed. "Some pretty girl thinks she can stop me? Huh." He tossed me onto the ground, hard. I gritted my teeth as to not scream. He stepped on my wrist, and I couldn't help it anymore. I screamed loudly. Everyone in the stadium froze and turned towards Goone and I.

Luca appeared in my field of vision as a terrifying monstrosity. She roared at Goone, her telepathic voice calm, yet deadly.

_Let my trainer go or suffer the consequences. 3... 2... _

She didn't wait, slamming into him with a powerful Force Palm. He stumbled, and at once, the two Scizors clawed into her with dual Metal Claws. I cried out in horror as Luca collasped. "LUCA!" I cried, than glared at Goone, holding my wrist. "You shall pay! Meta, Bullet Punch!"

Meta tried, but before contact, one of the Scizors held up Rio. Meta skidded to a halt before lowering its claw. "Rio!" I whispered. "Put him down!" I said, begging. "Please! I'll stop, just let him go! He's only a child!"

Goone laughed. "Like I care," he growled. He continued talking, but I only noticed one thing.

The dark, terrifying Hydreigon snarling at him from behind.

Goone turned slowly, and the second he did, he received a Tri Attack to the face. He fell back, and the Scizors turned to go help him. They dropped Rio in the process, and Meta caught him gently.

"Rio," I sobbed, running my index over a small gash in his arm. "I'm so sorry..." Rio blinked at me before hopping to his feet.

"Riolu!" he proclaimed proudly, patting his chest. I chuckled through tears.

"I suppose buddy. But stay out of the fight, okay?" Rio sighed but nodded.

_He'll be with me, Chyna. _

"Okay Luca. But keep him safe."

Luca nodded before picking up Rio and dashing off. I rejoined the fight with Meta. It wasn't before long though, when Goone took another hostage.

"Ah!" I heard Noah cry. I spun around to see him get toppled off his Zebstrika, a long graze on its flank from a rouge Shadow Ball. One of the Scizor's grabbed him by his forearm, and he visibly flinched and struggled to get away as the spikes on its claws cut into his arm. Typhlosion Flame Wheeled it, and Noah got away with several short, deep gashes on his forearm.

By now, most of our Pokémon were exhausted from the seemingly endless supply of Ninjask. I was tired of battling, and scared as well. I had found Bailee in the fray some time ago, and we were fighting back to back. Luca and Rio had returned, and Meta was fending off more Ninjask with Psychic and Bullet Punch.

"Go, Unfezant! Go, Snivy!" Bailee shouted, throwing their respective Pokeball's into the air. Unfezant and Snivy appeared with a blinding white flash. Unfezant got to work with Air Slash and Aerial Ace, while Snivy worked with Leaf Tornado and Leaf Blade.

Taking cues from her, Hope and Odessa sent out their other Pokémon. Pachirisu and Buneary jumped exploded into a fighting frenzy with Spark and Dizzy Punch, while Emolga and Altaria favored a combination of Electro Ball and DragonBreath.

Roy noticed, sending out his Dwebble and Heracross. Rock Slide and Megahorn were brought into play. More Ninjask went down, and it seemed like the numbers were thinning.

Larch revealed his last Pokémon to be a Nidorino. It attacked with an alternating Poison Sting and Horn Attack. Beside him, Izzy already had her Poochyena and Riolu out. They switched back and forth, ganging up on one Ninjask with Bite and Force Palm.

Owen's Machamp and Oshawott double teamed most of the Ninjask together. Machamp used Vital Throw to toss the Ninjask Oshawott's way, and Razor Shell finished them off. Near him, Noah's Aron was coming into play, using Iron Defense before using Roar to blow them Typhlosion and Zebstrika's way.

After a few more minutes, the numbers had not decreased anymore, but had seemed to increase. I was now fighting with Noah, Owen, and Bailee. Together, we had formulated a plan. But we would need everyone's help.

Meta and Aron would retreat to the outer circle of Pokémon. Then, going in opposite directions, they would force the Pokémon into a tighter circle using Roar and Psychic. Once they were in a somewhat circle shape, we needed Arcanine, Ninetails, and Typhlosion to use either Flamethrower or Ember to create a circle of flames, so the Pokémon would huddle together even more. Pidgey, Altaria, Drifblim, Emolga, Hope's Dragonair, Mica's Dragonair, Heracross, Ninjask, Unfezant, Hydreigon, and my Metagross would then take to the air, and pick off the Ninjask one my one, until only the two Scizor were left. All the other Pokémon would stand guard outside the circle of flames to prevent any Pokémon from escaping. It was a perfect plan.

Quickly, we rounded up the rest of the trainers. They agreed to our somewhat crazy plan. The most dangerous part was the circle of flames itself, so we had Owen's Oshawott on hand just in case something went wrong.

"Alright guys," Owen shouted. "Take your positions, people!"

I sent Metagross to circle around all the Ninjask with Psychic. It did so, and Noah's Aron Roared powerfully. Soon, all the Ninjask were rounded up in a somewhat tight circle. Then, Typhlosion started off the ring of fire with Lava Plume, and then used Flamethrower to more effectiveness. At their spot around the circle, Arcanine and Ninetails also used Flamethrower.

The flames reached tall and high, and all the Pokémon that could fly took to the air. Multiple moves blasted through the sky to great effectiveness. The Ninjask retaliated with Shadow Ball, and Metagross was the first to give in to the type effectiveness. I recalled it, thanking it for a good job well done.

Several well aimed Shadow Balls also knocked both Dragonair out of the sky, and Hope and Mica recalled their respective Pokémon. Mica had refused to call out her Eevee, protesting that it was much too dangerous for the babyish Pokémon. Everyone agreed.

Soon, all the Ninjask were fainted and wiped out. Goone seemed to be panicking now that all his minions were fainted. The two Scizors leapt into action with Razor Wind and Metal Claw, but were quickly defeated with several well placed Flamethrowers.

"Look at what you have done," I growled, pointing around the stadium. It was trashed, smoking rubble everywhere. It was trashed to the point of destruction.

"Like I care?" Goone spat back, backing up, away from our advancing line of trainers. I noticed something atop the stadium, on one of the higher rows of seats, something boulder like, possibly a piece of rubble, precariously balanced so it was about to fall. There were several others close to that piece, and I started to formulate a quick plan.

"Izzy," I whispered to the girl. "What does your Riolu know?"

She looked startled. "Um, Quick Attack, Force Palm, Copycat, Earthquake..."

I nudged her. "That's it! Get your Riolu to use Earthquake!"

She didn't hesitate. "Riolu, Earthquake!" She cried. Everyone's head jerked up, at her voice. As Riolu started the move, I sent out Metagross, who I knew had low health, but I needed it to do something.

"Meta, please, Psychic on us, into the air!" Meta nodded weakly, than raised its claws. A blue aura surrounded us, lifting us a few feet into the air. Meta rose too, as well as all our Pokémon. Goone, however, was neglected.

As the Earthquake continued, the rubble bounced and rolled down the stadium seats, bouncing towards Goone. He backed up, but hit another rubble stone that had already stopped rolling. I knew that the rubble rolling by itself would probably kill Goone, and I didn't want that, so I had Meta trap him with the rubble pieces. After that, I had us let down and recalled Meta.

"Good job Meta," I murmured, putting the Pokeball away. Afterwards, I looked at everyone.

We were all dirty and sweaty, and some of us did have slight bruises and grazes. Noah's forearm was still injured, as was my wrist. Bailee had an assortment of scratches on her arms where a bunch of Ninjasks had ganged up on her and scratched with their tiny claws. Owen's leather jacket was singed slightly where a stray Ember from Larch's Arcanine had gone astray. Odessa's white skirt was mussed and dirty. But we were all still alive.

As we stood there, relishing the fact we still stood and breathed, our hearts still beating, Officer Jenny arrived. Noah was the first to act, pointing out the trapped Goone while congratulating and recalling his Pokemon. Everyone else followed suit, and soon I was the only one left.

Luca had Rio cradled in her arms and I took him from her. He was panting, and looked horrible. I felt extremely guilty.

"Sorry Rio," I murmured. "I never meant for you to get caught up in all this..." Rio wriggled in my arms and I set him down, only to be blinded by a brilliant white flash. "Wha..."

Before our eyes, Rio stood taller, his form filled out, and spikes grew. After the white afterglow faded, I blinked in surprise.

Rio was now a Lucario.

* * *

**Mew: Ah, Rio's evolved? You know what that means? Those of you who remember the rules, good for you. Those of you who don't, well, don't you dare go look. You probably all know, but still, if you don't remember, don't spoil the next chapter for yourselves. This was the main plot objective, so all the rest is the tournament. But there's a surprise for the last few chapters, so stick with me, okay? You know the 3 R's Read, Review, and Repeat. Go! :D Click that little blue Review box down there! :D (You can probably tell I'm on a sugar high rush - and I haven't had any sugar today!) **


	8. Chapter 8

******Mew: Sorry I haven't updated for so long. Squirrel, if you're reading this, I can't wait any longer to post. I'm going on vacation tomorrow, and won't have access to a computer. On July 24, I will be gone for 3 weeks, also most likely being unable to post. Just a heads up there. I don't own anything except my OC and probably the made up rules. Enjoy! **

**Pokemon Baccer World Cup**

**Chapter 7**

**Chyna's POV**

"Meta!" I called, looking over my shoulder. "Could you please clear out this rubble here?" I asked. As Meta floated over and mentally levitated the broken stone, wood, and who knows what else away, Luca and Rio came over, both toting bundles of cut wood. "Thanks, I said gratefully, taking the timber away and setting it on the ground. From there, Odessa's Drifblim and Altaria flew over. Drifblim secured one bundle, holding the cords tightly. I made sure that it was safely secured before it floated away. Altaria merely snatched the thick cord in its talons before taking off again, heading over to Izzy's section of the broken stadium.

It had been a day or two after the incident - I had lost track of time from the hard work. Since the World Cup was temporarily cancelled due to the stadium's current state, all of us - the contestants - decided to pitch in to help speed up the building. Meta was in charge of carting away broken rubble to be sorted into reusable and unusable piles. Luca and Rio walked around making sure that each section had enough materials. Drifblim and Altaria worked independently, making sure that the right materials were where they belonged, also serving to transport wood and occasionally stone through the air. The smaller Pokémon that could fly, like Emolga and Pidgey worked together, as did the two Dragonair's. Larch's Arcanine and Noah's Zebstrika moved workers around and sometimes dragged away what rubble Metal hadn't cleared yet. Owen's Oshawott, Machamp, and Shiftry worked as a well-oiled unit, making sure everyone was safe. Bailee's Unfezant and Hydreigon were high in the sky, keeping watch for any unwanted intruders. All the smaller non flying Pokémon sped around helping with random tasks.

"Alright everyone!" I heard Owen call. "Great work! For now, let's take a break! Sun's getting hot; don't want anyone fainting!" As the last strains of his voice died away, everyone started to head for the small shelters quickly thrown up around the broken stadium.

"Whew," I muttered. "I was wondering when break time was." I sat next to Noah, who was sipping slowly from a chilled water bottle. Silently, he handed me one, and gave a quiet thanks in return. Unlike Noah, I gulped at the cold liquid before his hand on my shoulder caused me to slow down.

"Careful," he warned. "You'll get a stomachache. Don't drink so fast." After that, he stood and went to talk to Owen, who was standing around also drinking water.

"Hey, Chyna." I heard Bailee's voice behind me and turned around.

"Hey Bailee. Your section going well?" I quickly took in her appearance, a headband tied under sweat streaked bangs, a plain white t-shirt, and faded work jeans. She also had worn brown boots and gloves on to protect her hands from being cut up. "I think Meta and I are almost done clearing all the rubble in our area. Heard Larch's area wasn't doing too well in that section, so I'm sending Meta over there after break to clear it all out."

She didn't seem to be paying too much attention, looking outside the tent. "Hey, that's pretty cute." Bailee laughed. I looked around my best friend, peering around to look out of the tent. Noah's Aron was wobbling around the rubble pile, stuffed with stray iron shavings that came from the rubble pile.

"Noah?" I called. "Aron's starting to eat itself fat. Might want to stop it." Noah looked outside before hurrying to his Pokémon.

"Now, now, Aron," I heard him say soothingly. "I know you love iron, but I can't let you get too fat, can I? Aron whined as Noah took him into the tent. Everyone looked over, and ended up laughing, even somewhat stoic Owen, although he did had a pretty cool sense of humor as well.

"So," Owen said calmly. "We've got an hour left before we get back to work, what do you want to do?"

In the end, we shared Baccer training tips and Odessa showed off her professional Musical skills by doing a quick mini Musical. She did one with her Emolga, Drifblim, and Altaria. Afterwards, she started using other Pokémon, my Luca, Larch's Pidgey and Arcanine, Noah's Typhlosion, Owen's Oshawott, and Izzy's Glaceon and Poochyena.

"Great job!" I laughed, applauding Odessa's effort. "Well, I think it's time to get back to work, right Owen?" Owen nodded, and he rose from his seat.

"Right Chyna. No sense in wasting time." Owen quickly called out his Shiftry and Machamp, walking back over to his station.

Straggling so that there wouldn't be a bad traffic jam, we called out our own Pokémon and got back to work. Meta went over to Larch's station, and to compensate for the absence, Larch's Nidorino came over to our station.

"Alright Nidorino," I said softly, bending down. "Do you mind helping Rio smash those stone blocks?" Nidorino snorted in agreement and charged at one of the blocks, eradicating it into dust. I took that to be a Horn Attack, and left them to their work.

"Okay, Luca!" I called. "Please, bring that timber over to that area!" I pointed to where a worker with his Machoke was waving. He needed more work, and once Luca had delivered it, he got back to work.

"Hydreigon!" Bailee's black dragon roared a warning from the air. Unfezant circled the air, shrieking. Instantly, Bailee was ordering her Pokémon into offensive positions. Izzy and her Glaceon were standing warily in the section next to me – her Poochyena growled with rage. Owen and Noah had grouped together and Mica was nervously taking a battle stance beside them. Hope and Roy were also together, their sections were right next to each other. Larch seemed calm, but just as wary as Izzy. Odessa seemed annoyed for some reason that I couldn't fathom. She didn't seem terribly nervous though.

"Careful," I murmured to Rio, Luca, and Nidorino. Nidorino seemed uncomfortable about not being with Larch, but also somewhat relaxed at knowing Meta was with his trainer.

"Sorry!" Bailee called from the center of the stadium. "False alarm! Just a few flying Pokémon, that's all!" Everyone groaned, but the tension in the air eased up slightly.

"Really, Bailee," I groaned as she came over to my work space. "Your Hydreigon should know better."

Bailee laughed. "He's just really tense, like we all are. That experience with Goone was really scary... And we'd all rather not go through something like that again. It's always better to be safe than sorry." Her words left me chilled as she walked away, and I worked the rest of the day in silence.

By the time dusk had greeted us with beautiful pink and purple colors, roughly half the stadium was ready to go. We still had to fix quite a few of the stadium seats, and the battlefield was a complete wreck, but we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. So good in fact, that it seemed Bailee was challenging Noah to a battle, one on one. Her Snivy versus his Aron. Apparently not one to back down from a challenge, he accepted. I left them on the ruined battlefield, calling commands and such. Battling wasn't really my thing.

As I walked away, Mica came up to me. "Do you think that we'll finish tomorrow?" She asked me. I shrugged.

"I don't really know Mica," I said, my voice heavy. Mica looked at me worriedly.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

I shrugged again. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just really tired. Are you going back home?"

Mica nodded. "Yup. Mum's going to be wondering where I am now. See you tomorrow Chyna!"

I nodded as Mica giggled and ran off, sending out her Eevee, the little evolutionary Pokémon tagging along at her heels. I smiled slightly as Mica disappeared over the horizon, but that smile quickly vanished.

"Yeah." I whispered. "See ya." I continued walking, and soon arrived at my apartment. After I had let myself in, I had the idea of going over to the ocean to walk a bit. I bit my lip, and after much hesitating and deep thought, I slowly put down my Pokeball's on the kitchen counter. "Sorry," I murmured as Luca's Pokeball shook, rattling angrily. I quickly exited the kitchen, closing the door and walking away.

By then, it was dark, but I still wanted to walk by the ocean. Down by the shore, the sand was damp, and the moon shimmered off the water. It really was beautiful, but I had no eye for the beauty currently. My wrist throbbed painfully, as if remembering when Goone had ground it with his foot.

"Ouch..." I sighed and rubbed my wrist in a weak effort to stop the pain. "That's really not fun..." My voice trailed off as I stared at the ocean. Memories that I had locked away when I became a trainer all came flooding back to me, and I went out of reality for a bit as the pictures of childhood started coming back.

_/Flashback/_

"_Go get em!"_

"_Attack back!" _

_I was standing on a battlefield, 6 years old, with a Riolu, Luca. Bailee was standing on the opposite side with her Deino. _

"_Okay Riolu, use Force Palm!" I cheered eagerly as Riolu charged forward with a bark, her palm glowing with blue auric energy. _

"_Deino!" Bailee shouted. "Counter with Headbutt, then use Crunch and throw that Riolu away!" _

_Riolu slammed into Deino powerfully, but was thrown off balance by the somewhat non effective, but still painful Headbutt. Deino chomped onto her arm, and she cried out in pain as the little dinosaur tossed her away. _

"_Riolu!" I cried out. _

"_Attack with Dragon Pulse while it's down, Deino!" Bailee looked determined. _

"_W-wait!" I stammered. "Luca isn't strong enough, she can't stand it! She's only level 13! Stop!" I ran out to the field and scooped up Riolu in my arms. I was too slow to dodge the Dragon Pulse however, and it slammed into my right arm and side. "Wah!" I cried out, in pain._

"_Chyna!" Bailee was stunned. "Deino, STOP!" She threw her Pokeball and recalled Deino hurriedly. "Chyna! Are you okay!" _

_I sobbed. "It hurts!" I could tell by the burning of my flesh that I had at probably burned myself, or worst. _

"_Come on, let's go find Mom! She'll know what to do, Mom always knows what to do!" Bailee gently dragged me to my feet and took me to her house. I recalled Riolu, but the pain was insistent and the tears just kept rolling down my face..._

_/End Flashback/ _

As the memories faded, content that they had tormented me enough, I found my face wet and chilled in the breeze.

"That's why I never liked battling," I whispered. "And that Dragon Pulse... So scary." I sniffed before rubbing at my face and turning my feet back towards home.

When I got home, I noticed only one Pokeball on the kitchen counter. Rio's. I called him out.

"Where's Luca and Meta?" I asked, extremely worried. Rio looked ashamed.

"I don't know how Chyna, but they somehow got out of their Pokeball and went looking for you."

I sighed. "They'll be back in all due time then. I wouldn't worry so much. I'll just leave the door open. Don't worry." I went upstairs to go to bed, leaving Rio confused downstairs.

When I was dress in comfortable pajama shorts and a loose white t-shirt, I flopped back down in my bed and stared at the ceiling. "I've come a long way since that huh?" I said quietly to myself. "Although I still can't get over my fear of battling..." I sighed and turned over on my side again. There wasn't anything to be done, worrying about the past. Shuteye was the best option, and I dropped of the second I closed my eyes.

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**Mew: Like? Review please!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Mew: Holy me, what did I write? :D Enjoy folks! I also have a poll up for this on my profile, so vote, please! It's pretty crucial. **

**Pokemon Baccer World Cup**

**Chapter 8**

**Chyna's POV**

Construction on the stadium was almost done. My section was done, as well as Mica's, Owen's, Noah's, Bailee's, and Odessa's. We only had Larch's, Izzy's, Hope's, and Roy's section to finish, and with all of us helping, I had figured that we'd get done by the end of the day.

Of course, if nothing bad happened. Which, of course, I had to say that, and jinx us, and something bad did happen.

While Odessa's Altaria was flying overhead with some stone, the knotted cord had unraveled for unknown reasons, and the stone had dropped, almost crushing Noah, Mica, and Owen, who were pretty much underneath. Luckily, they were unharmed, but were given the scare of their lives. Afterwards, I had inspected the unraveled cord.

"Looks like it was singed here," I murmured to myself, sitting in the tent with the length of cord in my hands. "And cut here... and look, another burn mark. Sabotage?" I frowned, turning the cord over and over in my hands as Hope came in grumbling angrily.

"What's wrong?" I looked up, confused at her temper.

"Something else happened," she admitted after a few moments of silence. "Some wood was set at the top of my section. It was supposed to be used to repair the beams up there - and it's still set to do that. The problem was that they were improperly place, and they tumbled down the seating. Nothing was destroyed of course, but..."

I could guess what happened from the spooked look in her eyes. "Almost got you?"

Hope sighed. "Yeah. I'm fine though, just scared me. Hey, got anywhere with that rope?"

I nodded. "Yeah, let me show you." I grabbed a section and held it up for her inspection. "See, burn marks here and here, and right here it looks like someone cut it with a knife. What do you think it is?"

Hope shrugged. "Sabotage? I dunno. Unless..." She frowned. "I heard some of the workers saying that there was an invasion of Unovian Pokemon recently. They were brought over to control some of our bug types I suppose, but got loose. Officials are still trying to round them all up, but haven't gotten them all. And they place where they got loose is suspiciously close to Crown City. You don't reckon that this is a Pokemon's doing?"

"I... I don't know. What was that Pokemon's name?" I could faintly recall seeing something like that on the news, but didn't pay much attention at the time.

Hope shrugged again. "I'm not sure, but that Pokemon better stop!" She scowled a bit. "I'm going back outside. I'm helping Mica and Roy. I'll see you later." She walked away.

"Unovian Pokemon..." I tapped the rope and traced the burn marks. They were still warm. "Pokemon did this... I'm sure of it. But which Pokemon?" I groaned. I'd never traveled to any region before, much less Unova. But Bailee had, once before, even if it was for half a year.

Outside, Bailee was standing with Larch and Noah. They were looking at the stadium blueprints, and probably arguing about how they should go about fixing it. Again. As I walked up to them, I noticed a small hole in the ground. Distracted, I walked over to that and looked in it. It was a relatively small size, but large enough that it worried me. What kind of hole was it? It could have been a serpent's hole...

All my thoughts were diminished as a small spurt of fire blasted from the hole and almost set me on fire.

"Ah!" I let out a yell of surprise, dropping the cord and jumping back. Startled, Noah, Larch, and Bailee turned, just in time to see a steel covered ant crawl out of the hole, it's mandibles snapping.

"Durant!" Bailee shouted. "Get away! Owen! Where the hell are you!"

Owen was all the way across the stadium. No way he would notice us. He was busy with Odessa and Izzy, pointing out something.

The Durant however, was my main concern. There was a lot of dry timber around, and the stadium was being rebuilt by the stuff. Too much fire... and this could be a huge problem. I didn't want to risk my Pokemon though. All of them were part Steel type, and were weak to fire. Still, I had to try something.

"Luca!" I called. She was nearby, and when she saw the Durant thingy, fired a quick Aura Sphere at it. The Aura Sphere sent it tumbling head over heels, but it was still ready and raring to go, snapping its pinchers angrily. It charged at the nearest person. Noah.

Taken by surprise, Noah reacted a bit too slowly. Durant leaped up and caught Noah on the forearm, right where Scizor's claws had got him. Noah didn't yell, but clenched his teeth. He whacked the Durant over the head, but it still wouldn't let go. His black jacket seemed to protect him from the initial blunt impact, but after a few moments, something dark dripped to the grassy ground.

"Ugh..." Noah groaned in pain, holding his arm close to his body. Bailee stepped in front of him, her Hydreigon roaring at the Durant.

"I don't get it!" Bailee called. "Durant's are Bug Steel types! They can't use Ember or Flamethrower or any fire type move!"

I was shocked. "I thought it was Fire Steel type! Then where'd the fire come from?"

My answer came from my left. A little Pokemon that looked like a little white furry maggot with red spikes blasted some Ember at me.

"Eeep!" I squeaked, jumping backwards. "Is that my answer? What the heck is that?"

Bailee seemed stunned. "That's a Larvesta! It's one of rare legendries that actually evolve! Actually, I think it's the only legendary that can evolve!"

"Really?" I asked, taking a closer look at the little buggy Pokemon. Bad idea.

"AH!" I yelped, at the Larvesta spat Ember at me. My white bandanna caught fire at I frantically scrabbled at the tight knot. "Help!"

"Samuel, put out that fire! Water Gun!" Owen called quickly. His Oshawott quickly turned around to me and put out the sputtering fire with a weak Water Gun. I sighed gratefully, smiling at Oshawott.

"Thanks Oshawott! Too bad about this bandanna..." I frowned at the soot covered bandanna before tearing it off. "Burnt anyway. Guess I'll have to get another one. Freaking Larvesta..."

Behind Bailee, Noah snapped in an instance of bad temper. "Can you just get rid of it and this Durant? Get it off me!"

Oops. I turned to Noah, who was still struggling with the stubborn Durant. Zebstrika had its teeth on it, tugging, and Typhlosion was helping. Aron butted it on the head.

"Rio, help out Noah by using Force Palm!" Rio nodded, glancing at Noah.

_Please don't worry; this shouldn't hut. Hold still now... Force Palm! _

Rio rushed over, his palm glowing blue, before slamming into the Durant. It let go of Noah's arm in surprise before getting slammed into the ground.

"Thanks man," Noah groaned, rubbing at his arm. "Freaking... That hurt!" He glared at the fainted Durant at his feet before nudging at it with his foot. "Anyone wanna catch it before the terminators come and take them back where they came from?"

I eyed it dubiously. No way I really wanted it. But Bailee pulled out a Great Ball and lobbed it gently at the Durant. "There's probably more than one," she murmured, "But I don't mind taking this one in. He's scared, not in his some region, and he doesn't know what to do." She picked up the Great Ball that contained the Durant in it. "Don't worry," she said to it fondly. "You're safe now."

"What about the Larvesta?" Roy asked. He looked a bit eager to get it, as he loves Bug types. Everyone could figure that out... Hey, where the heck did he get that staff...?

Whatever. Bailee shook her head at Roy's question. "No." She said. "Don't ever think about it. This may not be Unova, but rules still apply. Larvesta cannot be captured, as they are technically semi-legendary, you know, they evolve into a legendary Pokemon. When they evolve into Volcarona, they are extremely dangerous. As far as I know, only Alder, the champion of Unova, was allowed to have a Volcarona, and on strict regulations as well."

Roy looked slightly saddened, but nodded. "Okay."

"So how do we deal with all these Durant and Larvesta?" I waved my hand at all the Unova Pokemon wandering around, being corralled by Izzy, Odessa, and Hope's Pokemon.

"I've contacted Officer Jenny," Owen said, coming up to us. He must have finally noticed the commotion. He frowned at the sight of Noah's arm, dripping blood through his jacket. "Someone deal with him. While... Samuel, over there!" Owen pointed somewhere to the right. His Oshawott leap up and performed a sucessful Hydro Pump, extinguishing a small fire.

"Come on Noah, I think there's gauze or whatever in the tent." Bailee grabbed him by the good arm and dragged him off. I watched them before staring at the Larvesta at my feet. For some reason, I didn't feel threatened by it anymore.

"What are you looking at?" I glared at it before noticing it was smaller than all the other Larvesta, and also looked slightly beat up. "Aw... You're the runt of the litter, huh?" I pulled a spare Potion out of my pocket. "Hey, come here. This will sting, but you'll feel better afterwards." I sprayed the Potion over the Larvesta and it nodded in appreciation. "Feels better, huh?" I smiled.

Just then the officers arrived. One of them walked over to me. "Miss, I'll have to ask you to let go of that Larvesta. It's a dangerous Pokemon, and we have to take it back to Unova, where it belongs."

I sighed before patting the Larvesta on the head and handing it over to the officer. Larvesta squeaked in fear and jumped out of the officer's grasp, hiding behind my feet.

"Larvesta, really," I said, crouching down to look at the shivering Larvesta. "There's nothing to be scared of. You're going back home! Don't you want that?" Larvesta shook its head.

Suddenly, one of the other Larvesta noticed the runt Larvesta at my feet. It scurried over before blowing a bit of fire at us. "Hey!" I said, instinctively picking up the little Larvesta. "That wasn't nice!"

The officer tapped my shoulder. "Um, miss, you'll have to hand that Larvesta over, or you're under arrest for having Pokemon potentially dangerous to society."

I looked at the Larvesta in my arms. "You don't really want to go back to Unova, do you?" I asked it. The Larvesta shook its head, squeaking again.

"Miss, really." The officer was getting impatient. "Just hand that Larvesta over and I won't have to arrest you!" He had his handcuffs out by now. I instinctively shrunk back, but held onto the Larvesta.

"I'm afraid I can't do that!" I proclaimed loudly. "I will not give you this Larvesta!"

The officer sighed. "I really didn't want to do this the hard way... But miss, you are under arrest!" He reached for my wrist, but I pulled it back.

Officer Jenny came over, alerted by the commotion we were making. "What is going on?" she asked.

"He's trying to take this Larvesta!" I protested, holding onto it protectively. It snuggled into my shirt. Luca, Rio, and Meta surrounded me, glaring at the male officer and Officer Jenny.

Officer Jenny sighed. "We were ordered to take all the Larvesta back to Unova. You will need to release that Larvesta now, unless you can prove you are worthy of taking care of one. How many badges do you have girl?"

I lowered my head in shame. "I don't have any badges with me," I said in a low voice.

"Then you will have to give us that Larvesta." Officer Jenny gently took the struggling Larvesta from my arms. I was ashamed at my weakness for not being able to battle.

"Sorry Larvesta," I whispered at it squeaked in fear at being led away from me. What I didn't expect was for it to spew some fire at Officer Jenny, causing her to drop it, and for the Larvesta to scurry back behind my feet.

Officer Jenny sighed. "Really now," she said, frustrated. Bailee came over with Noah in tow, glaring at the officer.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked venomously. "You're bothering my best friend. Can I do something about it?"

Officer Jenny looked at Bailee with some surprise. "I'm afraid your friend has possession of dangerous Pokemon that we must bring back to its natural habitat. Only if she can prove that she has the eight badges of Unova, which she doesn't, she has no right to have that Larvesta.

Bailee looked surprised. "Bailee!" she said loudly, cause Noah to look at her strangely until I subtly elbowed him in the ribs. I knew what she was up to now, but was it a good idea? "You forgot your badges, really now?"

I sighed. "Sorry... Chyna. I guess I must have left them at your house."

Bailee handed me her Unova badge case. "Here. Don't leave it next time!"

Officer Jenny looked at the badge case. "Bailee," she said, looking at me. "Is that your badge case?"

"Yes," I lied. "Here is my identification. I opened the badge case and took out Bailee's ID, which had my picture on it. It was a fake one, just in case I needed badges to get something. It really was against the law, but... Eh."

Officer Jenny looked at it for a moment before handing it back. "Of course Bailee Lesliee. As long as you make sure that Larvesta never evolves, you may keep it. Good day to you." She left with the rest of the officers handling Durant and Larvesta. Once she was gone, I handed Bailee's badge case and ID back.

"Thank Bailee," I said gratefully. "I'm surprised your scheme worked." I looked at the little Larvesta in my arms. "Are you boy or girl?" Larvesta nodded at the word boy and growled at the word girl. "Boy it is then... I'll name you Vic!" I caught Vic with a Pokeball before letting him out again.

Bailee sighed, putting her stuff away. "That's the last time," she groaned. "We can get into serious trouble one of these days. I'm going back to work." She stalked off. I looked at Noah.

"Do you do this often?" he asked.

"Nah. Only when we feel like it." I walked off as well, leaving Noah standing confused.

* * *

**Mew: Yup! So Chyna now has a new, illegally obtained Pokemon! Vic the Larvesta! Cool, huh! :D Please review! Next chapter should have some more matches in it, to bring this story back to topic! :D **


	10. Chapter 10

**Mew: Well, here's another chapter of Baccer! I'm sorry this is so late - I got really lazy after I came home, and school is right around the corner! D: I was planning to finish this by the end of the summer... Nowhere near that goal. :P Sorry guys, hope you enjoy! **

**Pokemon Baccer World Cup**

**Chapter 9**

**Izzy's POV**

"Again? Really?" I was over at Chyna's apartment, along with Noah and Roy. We were all chilling at her apartment playing Mario Kart 7 until the tournament started in about an hour. Yes, we had the stadium fixed, Durant and Larvesta free. I had been keeping a clean streak of first everytime until Roy had rammed his kart into mine - he was Mario, I was Dry Bones. Chyna was Toadette and Noah was Bowser. We had all picked random characters. "Pancakes," I muttered as I attempted to catch up with Roy and Noah. Both were ahead of me, Chyna was dead last.

"Argh!" Chyna twisted her wheel back and forth. "I'm terrible at this game!"

Roy grinned at her. "Eat my virtual dust!"

Noah didn't say anything, just concentrated on winning. His arm didn't seem to be bothering him to too much, and he didn't complain about it. Which was good I supposed.

An hour passed quickly, and we packed up the remotes and wheel, Chyna stashing them in a bin under the couch.

"Let's go!" I cheered, as Chyna raced upstairs to get a bandanna. Our Pokemon had been in their Pokeballs for the most part, on the couch. I picked up Glaceon, Poochyena, and Riolu's Pokeballs. Noah grabbed his and so did Roy, until only Chyna's were left. She jogged down the stairs, and grabbed her Pokemon.

"Everyone out," she ordered with amusement in her voice. "While I find my house keys... Go on ahead of me, I'll catch up!"

"Okay," Noah, Roy, and I said in unison. We left her apartment, it was actually really very nice, considering it was temporary, only staying there until the tournament was over.

Noah decided to ride his Zebstrika to get to the tournament faster, and Roy just decided to run on ahead. I was left behind, and soon Chyna came up behind on her Metagross. "Want a ride?" she asked. I shook my head. "Nah. I'll make it on time anyhow." I grinned at her. "Meet you there!" Chyna nodded and went on ahead.

**Chyna's POV**

Another half an hour had passed since Noah, Roy, Izzy, and I had left my rented apartment. I had caught up to Izzy easily, passed Roy without him noticing, but didn't see Noah until I got to the stadium. Huh. How'd he beat me on foot?

Anyhow, everyone else was already there, Larch, Hope, Owen, Bailee, Odessa, Mica, you get my point. We were just waiting on Izzy and Roy, who arrived shortly.

"... And thank you for waiting!" The announcer's voice boomed over the speakers. "We are terribly sorry for the long wait, but the World Cup has restarted!"

Cheers erupted everywhere, and it took a while for them to calm down.

"And our last match was Owen Edwards against Chyna Zevvy! Due to Pokemon Evolution and move using while the match was going, she is disqualified! She put up a great fight, but in the end, she couldn't do it! Maybe next year Chyna! But you all know what that means! Owen Edwards is the winner!"

Owen stood up. "No! I will not take this win. It was not Chyna's fault that her Pokemon evolved! I want a rematch, even if her Pokemon has evolved! I'd like to win fairly."

The announcer had heard him. "I'm afraid that's the rules Edwards."

"Wait wait wait!" I stood with my Larvesta clutched in my arms. "I wish for a replacement match between Izzy Waters and Larch Grayson!" Both Izzy and Larch looked rather surprised, Izzy seemed a bit hyped at another chance while Larch was rather calm in comparison.

"Okay, if that's okay with Izzy Waters and Larch Grayson." The announcer seemed a bit apprehensive, but okay with it.

"Of course," Larch said a bit eagerly.

"Yeah!" Izzy grinned widely.

"Then there will be a replacement match between Izzy Waters and Larch Grayson! The winner shall face Owen Edwards!"

Owen nodded. "That's fine." He sat back down. I sighed in relief. He was attracting attention.

"So, Izzy Waters, Larch Grayson, please, come down!"

Izzy cheered happily, running down with her Pokeball's in her hand, while Larch followed in a calmer fashion. When both people were in the right spots, they tossed their Pokeballs."

"Go, Arcanine, Nidorino, Pidgey!" That was Larch's team, Team Crypto.

"Let's go, Riolu, Poochyena, Glaceon! Team Unity!" Yup, that was Izzy, with Team Unity.

"And... Let's start the match!"

Larch was extremely quick off the bat with Arcanine. "Arcanine!" He called. "Across the field, grab the ball." Arcanine lunged forward with a bark, swinging its head to grab the ball. Izzy reacted a bit slowly, calling Poochyena to the defense.

"Poochyena!" she called. "Forward roll, under Arcanine! Riolu, back him up!" Poochyena raced forward before sliding under Arcanine and wrenching his head to one side to grab the ball as he did so. He attempted to do a funny rolling motion, but as Arcanine was so much larger than Poochyena, it easily swung its head up and tossed Poochyena away.

Riolu came up from behind as Glaceon charged it from the front, fangs bared and snarling. Arcanine stopped dead, looking at Glaceon, then spun around to face Poochyena, the Baccer ball still in his mouth.

"Attack!" Izzy cried out. Arcanine hunched down to protect the ball, but I was confused as to why Larch didn't tell Arcanine what to do. He was standing there, eyes narrowed, watching Izzy's Pokemon attack his Arcanine. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers.

"Arcanine, Nidorino, defend. Pidgey, into the air!" He ordered crisply. Pidgey chirped happily as Nidorino charged forward. Arcanine turned and flung the Baccer ball through the air, Pidgey catching it in its talons and nearly crash landing from the weight. It managed to stay in the air though, and gained an easy goal as Arcanine and Nidorino blocked the smaller Pokemon from getting to their goal.

"Hm..." I studied the situation. Arcanine and Nidorino were on defensive, and Pidgey on attack. A strange combination, but effective nonetheless. I could see the problem with Izzy. All of her Pokemon were occupied with Arcanine and Nidorino. With no defensive guard, it would be an easy match for Larch if she didn't do something fast.

I looked around. Our seating had changed since the last time we'd been in the stadium. I was now right beside the aisle seat, Mica sitting silently there, watching with curious eyes. I was next to her, Noah on my right. Beside Noah was Owen, and sitting in the seat above Owen was Bailee. On Bailee's left was Roy, then Hope. When Larch and Izzy were finished battling, Larch would sit on Hope's left, in the aisle seat above Mica. Izzy would sit to the right of Bailee. I wasn't quite sure where Odessa had went, possible to buy something to eat. But she sat on the right of Owen, below where Izzy would sit.

Caught up in my thoughts, I fuzzily heard Noah commenting something to Owen.

"... Well that's unexpected."

I snapped out of my thoughts. "What?" I asked. I noticed the competitors Pokémon in semi-strange positions. "Huh..."

Noah pointed. "See, Izzy's Poocheyena seems to be _defending_ Larch's goal, which is strange enough. But really, I think it's just waiting for an opening in Larch's guard." I studied the positions a tad more. "Oh... That's not going to work now. Larch's seen right through it, smart man."

I saw the truth of Noah's words. Riolu and Poocheyena were an oiled machine, working smoothly without any kinks. Glaceon hung back by the goal, which partially made sense. Being fully evolved, she'd have more strength than Riolu or Poocheyena. And Poocheyena were known to be notoriously persistant... Making it a good offense Pokemon. Riolu also had great endurance and agility, making it ideal for making quick passes and catches. But simply keeping Riolu in field and Poocheyena waiting for the ball weren't going to accomplish anything. Especially with Nidorino at the goal, and Arcanine and Pidgey ganging up on poor Riolu.

Izzy's Riolu had the ball, but not for long. Pidgey did an excellent bullet maneuver, almost hitting Riolu in the process. The shock forced the blue Pokemon to drop the Baccer Ball, giving Pidgey the opportunity to dive in again and snatch it out of the air with no apparent problem at all. Larch had trained it well.

Arcanine snarled at Riolu. It was apparent that Riolu wasn't getting past, but he tried his best. I'd give him kudos for that, at least.

Poocheyena didn't even notice until the Pidgey had gotten to the goal. Even then, Izzy yelled for him to stay back. I could see the logicality of the situation, but an attempt was better than none... Or not?

Glaceon engaged Pidgey aerially, a bad decision. Pidgey back winged easily, even with the heavy ball. Using the quick movements as momentum, it gracefully dodged the leaping Glaceon and scored another goal.

"It's 2-0 now," Bailee remarked. "Izzy's going to have it hard..."

"I think I'm going to get a soda," I said suddenly, getting up and slipping past Mica. "I'll be right back." I left, hurrying to get something to drink so I could return quickly and not miss anything.

**Larch's POV**

I smiled in a somewhat grim manner – things were going right my way. As I suspected, Arcanine and Nidorino easily overpowered those smaller Pokemon, and Pidgey was simply too fast for them to follow. A perfect combination.

As the ball was thrown in by the ref again, Arcanine leapt up to catch in, getting enough air to do a flip before landing with the ball firmly clamped in his jaws.

"Pidgey, get out front!" I called. "Nidorino, watch the goal!"

Pidgey chirped brightly, soaring just above Arcanine's head. Arcanine growled through its teeth, before leaping forwards, meeting stiff resistance from Poocheyena and Riolu.

"Throw!" I commanded quickly. Arcanine tossed its head up, releasing the ball in a fluid movement. The second the ball reach its peak, Pidgey shot up and nabbed it with its talons, using the momentum to turn it into a deadly spinning frisbee.

Startled, Izzy's Glaceon leaped out of the way, leaving the goal clear.

I snorted as I scored yet another easy goal. Perhaps Izzy wouldn't be so hard to beat after all.

* * *

**Mew: So, I left you a cliffhanger for once! And it seems Izzy is in trouble! Oh, and just something I want to get out. I think Izzy's creator Chi has left FF for good - I'm not sure if she's staying around for the story, but nonetheless. Review, please! **


	11. Chapter 11

******Mew: Guys, I am so, so, sorry. I know, I haven't updated in forever! Eighth grade - it's a killer. :P Anyhow, I apologize immensely; I've just got time to finish this chapter, and I know it's not long, it's barely over 1000 words - I struggled doing that. Don't worry, Chapter 11 will be longer. I promise, promise, promise. And the whole epic battle between Owen and Izzy will be there. Promise. **

**... On another note, would you like to see moves for the last Baccer Battles? If so, reply yes in a review, and those who've submitted OC's, give me your Pokemon's gender and moves. Tired of calling them all 'it'. -.- **

**And... Please, enjoy this piece of crap. Yes, it's not as good as I expect from myself, but I'm just so busy right now... It's not fun. Enjoy~ **

**Pokemon Baccer World Cup**

**Chapter 10**

**Larch's POV**

"Jump!" I commanded my Arcanine. It leaped over Izzy's cowering Poochyena and dashed the Baccer ball into the goal with a graceful ease. I resisted the urge to sneer or smirk.

"Good job," I praised, as Arcanine loped back, tounge lolling. It grinned wolfishly, as Nidorino stomped the ground and Pidgey landed on the goal. I smiled.

Everything was going perfectly to plan.

**Odessa's POV**

I dropped back into my seat, eyes flickering to the scoreboard and the field. Instantly, I knew the situation.

I sighed heavily as I watched Izzy's Pokemon getting pummled by Larch's larger and stronger Pokemon.

"Larch has it in the bag, hasn't he?" I asked Owen curiously. "Izzy's beat!" I wasn't terribly happy about the whole thing. I kinda wanted Izzy to win.

Owen hesitated, but Hope cut in front of him quickly. "Nah. Izzy's so totally gonna win." Her voice was filled with confidence. I wondered how she could say that so easily.

"Nah," disagreed Roy. "There's absolutely no way she can recover from a loss so great. It's just not possible! The worst odds are against her. It's 4-0, in Larch's favor."

I nodded. "I kind of agree with Roy on this one. Although I personally want Izzy to win... I think she's trashed at this point."

"Hey, she's still got hope left, huh?" I looked around Owen to see Chyna reclaim her seat, a Cola in her hand. "Sure, the odds are against her, but that doesn't mean she's totally done over. I've seen... Worse odds."

"What worse odds?" Noah seemed curious. Chyna didn't answer right away, popping the tab of her soda and taking a sip.

"Well... Let's just say I've seen people makes comebacks from a situation like this." Chyna shrugged. "Who knows?" she said in a strangely mysterious voice. "She might surprise us all." Sitting back, she sipped her soda contentedly.

I thought about her words with an intensity usually unknown to me. Hm...

**Izzy's POV**

I gritted my teeth, a drop of sweat running down my forehead. Larch can't win! He simply can't!

"Let's go Team Unity!" I cheered, despite my anxiousness. Glaceon, Poocheyena, and Riolu looked at me with a strange happy gleam in their eyes. I had not said that in months, years, even. "C'mon! Team Unity, go, go, go!"

As Larch's Arcanine grabbed the Baccer ball from an unsuspecting Riolu, Glaceon lunged with an angry intensity seeping from her. Startled at the sudden aggressive action, Arcanine drew back, as Glaceon launched herself up and snatched the Baccer ball, snarling.

Recovering from its surprise, Arcanine swept a paw at her. Glaceon jumped out of the way as Riolu came up behind, and she dropped it letting him grab it up and throw it into the opposing goal.

"Score!" I shouted gleefully, throwing my hands up. "You guys are AWESOME! Team Unity, for the win! Go!"

**Chyna's POV**

"Yeah, did you see that?" I pointed. "Izzy's making a comeback!" I smiled, as Noah deadpanned.

"You do realize that's one goal. She needs four others, while defending her own goal."

I nodded. "Izzy can do it! Believe in her!"

Bailee nodded. "GOOOO IZZY!"

**Izzy's POV**

I looked over, hearing a shout of my name. "Thanks!" I called back gleefully. I jumped up and down happily, then turned to face Larch again.

"I'm gonna win this, you hear?" I called. "Don't think you've got the advantage for one second!"

I grinned. "C'mon guys!" I shouted to my Pokemon. "Rally up!"

**Larch's POV**

At the enthusiasm Izzy showed, I could help but let slip a small smile. "Very well," I said smoothly. "Let's see if you can take this. Arcanine, Pidgey, go! Nidorino, defend!"

Arcanine leaped up, snatching the Baccer Ball that was thrown into the air by the referee. Glaceon snarled ferociously, grabbing on with her sharp fangs and hanging on for dear life as she was shaken around.

"Glaceon!" I heard Izzy cry. "Riolu, grab it!"

"Pidgey!" I called. "Help out Arcanine!"

Pidgey swooped at Riolu, striving to drive it off from Arcanine. Poocheyena raced up, yapping, and snapped at Pidgey, letting Riolu go. It grabbed onto the rim off the ball, tearing it away from Arcanine with impressive strength.

"Nidorino, don't let them past! Arcanine, chase them down!"

Arcanine shook its head suddenly, mane shaking. Roaring, it chased down Glaceon.

Glaceon looked behind her, dodging Arcanine's clumsy lunge easily. I frowned, as Riolu twirled around Nidorino in almost a comical fashion, scoring a goal as my purple Pokemon frowned.

Arcanine sat down, pawing at its mouth with somewhat of a whimper. I narrowed my eyes, sensing that something was up.

"Stop the match!" I shouted, rushing down to the field. I ran out to Arcanine, who whimpered.

"What's wrong?" I asked, holding his paw away from his mouth. I noticed a small dribble of blood dripping. Suddenly, it clicked in my mind. When Riolu tore the Baccer Ball away from Arcanine's mouth, a tooth must've snagged and had been torn out as well.

"I forfeit!" I called, recalling my Pokemon. "It's not worth it right now!" I walked out, intent on finding Nurse Joy.

**Izzy's POV**

"Uh..." I watched as Larch ran down the steps, almost tripping in the process, and running out to Arcanine. Arcanine's body was blocking my view of Larch, so I couldn't see what he was doing. Suddenly, he recalled his Pokemon.

"I forfeit!" I heard him call, as he briskly walked out of the battling part of the stadium. "It's not worth it right now!"

"Okay..." My Pokemon looked a bit confused, and quite guilty as well, for some reason.

"And... Izzy Waters is the winner!" The announcer boomed. I sighed, not content with my win.

"Return!" I cried, recalling my Pokemon. I started to walk off the field, sighing.

"And we shall have a ten minute intermission before battle between Izzy Waters and Owen Edwards begins! Izzy, you'd better heal, because I'm sure Owen will be a tough fighter!"

I smiled regretfully as I walked up the stairs. Owen nodded, Chyna smiled, although she looked a bit confused. Noah grinned for a second, before he looked back out at the field distractedly.

"Whatever happened to Larch?" Odessa asked. I shrugged. "He just... Left," I said, for a lack of a better word. "I just hope nothing bad happened..."

* * *

**Mew: To whoever created Larch Grayson (because my memories fails me right now, it's been so long,) I really liked the personality bit of 'Loving his Pokemon so much that he'd die for them', I decided to commemorate that by forfeiting due to Arcanine's tooth. So that's why, if you're a bit disappointed. Sorry! I still can't remember your username... Feel free to yell at me for that. **

**Please, please review! It'll boost my morale... **


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